I previously posted on the Code Name: Intrepid series from Robert J. Mendenhall, available through his own imprint Blue Planet Press.
CNI is a special team of military and civilian experts who handle cases that are extraordinary or of an unusual order in the 1930s. Think strange creatures and tech, maybe even magic of a sort, especially if it’s tied to a foreign nation.
The series started as a short-story collection from Airship 27. It now consists of five novels, a short-story collection, and a series of anthologies with stories by other authors. I previously posted on the first three novels and the short story collection. Now I finish working on the novels with the fourth and fifth ones.
Mendenhall’s background is a former policeman, a former member of the U.S. Air Force, and a former journalist. This gives him the background for this series. And it’s not his only work, as he also has a sf series called Far Futures.
As noted, Intrepid is a special team of military and civilian experts. Formed in 1932, it operates under the fictitious Office of Special Actions in the Department of War.
The group’s core team includes five members, plus a consultant. Its leader is Lt. Col. Rick Justice, Army Air Force. A double ace in WWI, he is a large man who is a capable leader, as well as a good observer. He is the character you see on all the covers. Then you have Lt. Cmd. Roger “Sky Hawk” Winchester, U.S. Navy, who is a WWI ace. He is described as looking like Clark Gable. There is Gunnery Sgt. Dexter “Guns” Preston, who is a Marine and fighter. And Master Sgt. Michael “Hammer” Downe, who is a mechanic and test pilot. Rita Marshall is a former Department of War analyst and the daughter of an admiral. But she is just as capable a fighter as the rest.
Finally, they have several expert consultants who have been joining the team, including Dr. Stephen “Cutter” Lester, a former field surgeon in WWI and now working in forensics, Professor Lucius “Specs” Wellington, and Professor Reginald “Digs” Jasper. Over time, they will be joined by other experts, both military and civilian.
Novel four is Hades’ Gate, set in 1934. It builds off of the prior novel and some of the short stories in the collection. The action starts when a strange anomaly shows up in the Atlantic off the U.S. coast. A U.S. submarine went missing when it appeared. Then a British plane comes out of it, piloted by Squadron Leader Cecil “Wildcat” Beckham, who has a strange story of flying into the anomaly near the coast of England and seeing a strange island, where a giant of a man tossed a boulder at him.
And it seems that the Sonderstaffel is aware of it, as their leader, Heinrich Bode, sends both Scarlet and The White Man, whom the team encountered in a couple of the short stories. They have a mission to obtain another mystical item, the “Helm of Invisibility,” which is producing the strange space-time anomaly. The White Man brings with him the Forge Sword he obtained in the short story “The Forge of Death.”
Rick gathers his team, including Digs Jasper, as he is an expert in mythology, and Wildcat Beckham. What they discover is something out of legend. They find Hercules, or Herac as he prefers, guarding the last entrance to Hades. And Cerberus is there as well. Can they stop what the Sonderstaffel is planning, maybe even retrieve the Forge Sword, even if it takes them to Hades? And more importantly, can they get back? Also, how will things go when Rick meets Scarlet again?
The fifth novel is Case Violet, set in 1935. Things start in Greenland at a remote mining site. Naval intelligence officer Lt. Andrew Garrity, who we had met in the first book, is observing material being loaded onto a ship by men in strange black uniforms: members of the Sonderstaffel. He gets away, though he is shot. Thankfully he is able to get back to the U.S. He reports on what he saw and noted the ship was a Brazilian ship that was reported as lost in an accident a couple of years prior. Clearly the Sonderstaffel has started a new campaign, but can Intrepid get in front of this? Especially as their airship has been grounded after the loss of the USS Macon?
Joined by Garrity, the team heads to Brazil. Thanks to decommissioned Naval sub S-19, introduced in the last novel, they trace the ship there. Joined by a Brazilian officer, they start trying to track down the Sonderstaffel as well as trying to figure out what they are after. After some success, but also setbacks, it appears there is an information leak.
They learn what is going on: a new terror weapon that will be released on the U.S. Can they figure out how to counteract it, as well as figure out the target? Even after they loose a team member?
Returning to the U.S., they are joined by Specs Wellington, Cutter Lester, and FBI Agent Mark Kimball, who previously appeared in the third volume. They are in a race to both figure out that counteragent, as well as the target, as they prevent some of the terror weapons from getting away from “Zombie Island,” the site of a previous adventure with the Sonderstaffel.
As July 4th is coming up, that is obviously the target date. Will they succeed without further lose of life? And if Intrepid is again successful, what does this mean for the Sonderstaffel and its leader, as they have always been thwarted?
A bonus story is included, “Scarlet Reunion,” set in 1933 when Scarlet von Rot kidnaps Rita, though not for revenge but for a deeper reason. Can they get her back?
So what is next? I have no idea when we’ll get another novel. Next up is another volume in the anthology series, which I need to start reading, and then another collection of short stories. Those will be out later this year. We’ll have to see what comes after that.
