The King Makers: The Adventures of Vincent Connor is a collection of a six-story series by “King of the Pulps” H. Bedford-Jones (1887-1949) that gives us adventure and intrigue in China of the 1930s.
Five of them appeared in 1931 in Argosy, with the final appearing the next year in Short Stories. All are short stories, but the last two are a little longer.
Steeger Books has reprinted this volume as part of their “H. Bedford-Jones Library.” I’m not sure the source for the cover artwork, as none of the stories were cover featured. We do get those covers on the back cover of this collection.
The star of this series is Vincent Connor. He presents as nothing more than a rich playboy living in China, overseeing the various businesses left him by his father. But instead of squandering them all, he has actually added to them.
Headquartered in Tientsen (Tianjin), he gets himself involved in various intrigues in China, helping those who need it and putting the end to various dangerous people. Thus he is working on behalf of China, not for himself or any foreign government. He does not work for any government.
Chang, his father’s old partner, will often send Connor a cryptic message that leads him on his next adventure. There are no other consistent secondary characters, though he gets assistance from others in several stories. This is a mix of adventure and spy fiction.
We meet Connor in “A Prince for Sale” (Argosy, June 13, 1931), where he is alerted to the plight of a Prince Pho-to. While that name seems fake, it’s an Annamese (Vietnamese) name. Connor learns the prince is in danger, having expended his funds. The French mean to either capture or kill him, and he may be betrayed by one of his close companions.
With 10,000 British pounds, he aims to thwart the French, in the form of Colonel Moutet, and expose the traitor in the Prince’s household. As part of this, he disguises himself as Mr. Wang as he is fluent in Chinese and Chinese customs. Will he succeed?
A slight different tale in “House of Missing Men” (Argosy, July 4, 1931) has Connor meeting an American recently arrived in China. The American tells of a Russian princess he has met recently, Princess Orloff. But the next day he is found dead by suicide, brought on by mounting debt.
Connor smells a rat, as he couldn’t find much info on this princess. He thinks that his friend got pulled into a scheme, blackmailed, and took his life. So he decides to address it head on. Leaving in secret, he returns in a disguise and allows himself to be pulled into the princess’ circle of Russians. Their scheme is to have him pretend to be the American consul general to a group of Chinese representatives of a general. Can he wreck their plans and get out safely?
Hanging out as his club, Connor hears of “The Tomb-Robber” (Argosy, Aug. 1, 1931), a mysterious man who has been pulling out items from Han dynasty tombs. A message from Chang alerts him to the man being in Tientsen working on a deal, as well as a large number of Han jade. Through his Mr. Wang identity, he has the man stay at his club, allowing him to steal back the jade. But going with the man to a temple, he puts himself in danger! Will he be able to get the best of the man?
Connor receives word that Chang had been killed by a warlord in “Diplomacy By Air” (Argosy, Sept. 19, 1931). He makes plan to take the warlord out, and gets his chance when a representative of the warlord comes to shake him down for protection money for his businesses in the warlord’s territory. He enlists a pilot to fly him down in a plane to try selling it to the warlord. In the process, they trick the warlord into the plane and plan on killing him. What happens next? You’ll need to read to find out.
As with the prior story, “Connor Takes Charge” (Argosy, Dec. 19, 1931) also deals with the Chinese civil war between the communists and Nationalists. This time, Connor is given word that a takeover is planned in Yunnan province. The local governor seems ineffective and will most likely be killed with a communist taking over. Any who would oppose him are dead or have fled. Connor needs to rush down there and with little assistance, figure out a way to turn the tables. Can he?
And “The King Makers” (Short Stories, April 25, 1932) now brings in the Japanese takeover of Manchuria. Connor is contacted by a young lawyer newly arrived from San Francisco who knows what Connor is all about. He has saved from the Japanese the heir to the Manchurian throne, the last of the Tsing dynasty. The Japanese want to use him to setup a puppet state in Manchuria under their control. But Connor hopes to help set him up as the true leader of Manchuria, free from Japanese control, but can he get him to safety as many are arrayed against them?
Overall, it’s an interesting series. I’m not sure why Bedford-Jones didn’t continue it, but I’ve seen this with many other series he did that only lasted four or six stories and no more. I do think that the changes in China with the Japanese invasion may have made it difficult to write further stories.
I am puzzled why the last one showed up in Short Stories. Did he write the first ones all at once, then later got inspired for a further one and sold it to Short Stories? No idea.
Like all of the Bedford-Jones works I’ve read, this one is enjoyable. Check it out whether you like adventure or intrigue stories, or stories set in pre-WWII China.
