Peter the Brazen is an interesting character: a two-fisted adventurer wandering the exotic Orient between the world wars, going up against several menacing villains. Written by George F. Worts under his Loring Brent pseudonym, Peter might be an inspiration for Doc Savage.
Appearing in several stories from 1918 to 1935, only a few have been reprinted so far. Steeger Books reprinted the first six stories in volumes 1 and 2, which featured his adventures against the Gray Dragon. In the last one, he had put an end to the threat of the Gray Dragon and looked like he might settle down with Aileen Lorimer. As if. (you’ll learn why he’s not with her later in this one)
With this novel, serialized over six issues of The Argosy in 1919, we find Peter Moore coming back to China, even stepping in and covering for a sick radio operator. This serial was covered featured (for its first appearance), and even revealed that Brent was really Worts. When he came back with more stories, that was not noted.
We don’t meet Peter at first. Instead, we meet Jonathan Driggs, a veteran of WWI (and we learn a fellow radio operator), who is heading into the interior of China. He’s traveling to the city of Ly-Chang to met with Gloria Dale and her father. Instead, he learns that she has left to be with Fong-Chi-Ah, a sinister character from Shanghai. Further, the city is upset by the theft of a treasured necklace with a golden cat on it, that had been worn by a Queen Shari, now long dead. Bothered by this, he heads out to find Gloria and learn the truth.
Peter shows up in Chapter 5, heading to Hong Kong from England. He is also a veteran, and is hoping to meet up with a friend, Jan Sing and his sister Shari. They are, in fact, the children of Prince Chu who rules Ly-Chang. Thus, Peter will be pulled into things by Gloria, as Jan is seen by Fong as an enemy and Shari is missing, and so all these characters come up against Fong-Chi-Ah. Added to the mix are another couple of Americans. Kenneth MacRae has become enamored of Gloria, and is following after her. And then her fiance, Betty Oliver comes from New Orleans looking for him and gets in trouble, and Peter steps in. Will Peter fall for Gloria, or will she instead marry Jonathan or will it be Kenneth? What about Betty? And what about Shari, who also loves Peter? It’s another tale of adventure and romance in the exotic Orient, as well as danger and death, leading up to a furious battle aboard Fong’s junk. It won’t be until the nearly the end before we learn everyone’s role in everything.
Having been there, and been a wireless operator, Worts is able to convey the atmosphere of China at that time. As much as the action, this is a big draw for this series. I found this story more enjoyable then the previous, because it was written more as a single clear narrative, then having six episodes that loosely tie together like the previous one.
After this story, Worts didn’t do any more Peter the Brazen stories for 10 years! Hopefully we won’t have to wait that long for the next volume. I think we would need about three or four more volumes to reprint the whole series.
If you enjoy Worts works, also check out his Gillian Hazeltine series and Singapore Sammy, both of which Steeger Books has started to reprint. And I hope his series of stories set in the Florida city of Vingo might be reprinted as well. From what it appears, it was writing the Vingo stories that took up his time as “Loring Brent” between the second and third Peter the Brazen stories. Being from Florida, I’d love to see that series reprinted as well.
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