After a 10-year absence, George F. Worts brought back Peter the Brazen to Argosy in 1930. Supposedly this was part of a larger effort to revamp Argosy by bringing back several of their serial characters.
Peter Moore is an interesting character: a two-fisted adventurer wandering the exotic Orient between the world wars, going up against several menacing villains. He is known as Ren Beh Tung, “Man of Bronze”, by the Chinese. George F. Worts wrote this series under his Loring Brent pseudonym. Some feel that Peter may be an inspiration for Doc Savage.
The Sapphire Smile: The Adventures of Peter the Brazen, Vol. 4, from Steeger Books reprints the four stories from 1930. Each one of them was cover featured, with the cover from the first story used as the cover for the volume.
So as it has been 10 years since the previous Peter the Brazen story, what has happened since? Well, in the first story, we are told that Peter left the Orient five years prior due to the “man in the jade mask” telling him to leave “or else.” Peter has been working for General Electric in Pennsylania as a radio researcher. And that brings him back to the Orient. In particular, he is heading to Hong Kong to meet an inventor, Fong Toy.
The first of the new stories, “The Sapphire Smile” (Feb. 15, 1930), is set on a ship heading to China. In fact, all the action takes place as the ship is approaching Japan. Peter finally meets a young woman he had seen during the voyage, Susan O’Gilvie. She will be at the center of the action that will see several men killed, and Susan saved from an unknown fate at the hands of a Tonkanese Sultan. At the end, Peter sees her off on a ship heading back to the U.S.
In the next one, “The Man in the Jade Mask” (April 26, 1930), we learn more about what caused Peter to leave the Orient. He is in Shanghai awaiting someone before heading to Hong Kong. He is summoned at gun point to meet with the head of the Green Circle, a Chinese secret society. This person is K’ang, who is the “man in the jade mask.” Due to Peter getting involved in the society’s affairs, he was told to leave. Now the issue is that the Ming sceptre, an item of power owned by the Green Circle, is missing. And they wonder if Peter was involved.
But Peter discovers that Susan has arrived in Shanghai rather than returning to the U.S. She is looking for adventure, and gets it in spades as she makes the mistake of getting involved. Thankfully Peter is able to extract her and get them out of trouble with the Green Circle. But what about the Ming sceptre? Now Peter is heading to Hong Kong, in part to get away from Susan.
And we learn of Peter’s journey to Hong Kong in “That Cargo of Opium” (June 21 & 28, 1930). He decides to take a tramp steamer to get there. After getting on board, though the supercargo and captain weren’t keen on it, he discovers that Susan soon arrives. She is still looking for adventure, and is doing the worse idea possible: she is buying the cargo and hopes to smuggle it in. As a result, we will get pirates and murder and a mutiny! And Peter must again get involved to get her out of trouble.
Finally, we get “The Hand of Ung” (Nov. 22 and 29, 1930), where Peter will deal with Ung the Unspeakable that I mentioned in my first posting. Sort of.
Peter is in Hai Phong, a port city in northern Vietnam, in hopes of finally meeting up with Fong Toy. But due to the followers of Ung arriving for their annual “festival,” all the Europeans in the city have left because of the danger as the Ungese get quite violent. Peter knows a bit about them from about six years prior, and knows the head priest is K’ong. But Susan has again shown up, following Peter, and doesn’t want to leave. So you know that Susan will get into trouble with the Ungese, and Peter will need to get her out. Will he succeed and be able to end this dangerous cult?
That wraps up all the stories in 1930. I wonder how things will progress? Will Susan continue in the stories or leave? Peter has been working for General Electric and only relutantly gotten involved, in part due to Susan being in danger. Will this continue?
There are nine more stories to come, but these range from novelettes and serials running from two to six parts. These include stories were Peter will go up against characters like the Blue Scorpion and others. So I am not sure how many more volumes we’ll need, but I think around three or four. I can’t wait. The next volume is out and I’ll be getting and reviewing it.
And you might want to check out Worts’ other series like Singapore Sammy, which has also been collected by Steeger Books, as well as his Gillian Hazeltine series (also slowly coming from Steeger). And I am still hoping that his Vingo series will be reprinted.
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