The Persian Cat

by John Flagg

THE PERSIAN CAT



The aftermath of the war has left Gil Denby a cynical shell. So when Pinel comes to him with a mission to bring a Nazi traitor to justice, his only question is, "How much will it pay?" When he finds out that it involves Edmund Marlan, corrupt financier, it also becomes personal. And the job couldn't be simpler. All he has to do is travel to Teheran, get close to Marlan, then convince the man's mistress, Claire Fayne, to board a plane with him for Cairo, where she will be tried for the betrayal of her husband as a Nazi sympathizer. Simple as hell.



Helping Denby on his mission is young Gaby, a war child with worldly ways. Pursuing him is Berkeley, a British agent of questionable loyalties. And protecting the interests of Marlan are Grayle and Drexel, two dedicated young men who take their job very seriously. All Denby has with him is a little china cat to let his Teheran contact know he's one of the good guys. But the more he gets to know Claire Fayne, the more he begins to question just where his loyalties lie...

166 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1950

Reviews

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Denby is a wiseguy who can think quickly on his feet but is prone to act impulsively. A former OSS operative, he fancies himself a a cynical gun for hire but has trouble staying detached, letting things get under his skin and personal. This is quite entertaining for what it is, with a fast pace and lots of intrigue and skullduggery, though some of the plot pieces fit together only rather loosely. And then there's the eponymous Persian Cat, a mysterious secret society that ultimately proves a red herring, providing some shadowy foreboding and a vague means for saving our hero's bacon when he needs it most.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Persian Cat

Although re-released as the fourth Black Gat book by Stark House Press, Flagg’s The Persian Cat’s claim to fame was its release as the first of the Gold Medals in 1950 (apparently numbered 103). Flagg sets this excellent espionage novel in 1950 Teheran and post-WW2 as the surviving French partisans are still tracking down Nazi collaborators and bringing them to justice. Gil Denby is an ex OSS officer (the forerunner of the CIA), but is now at loose ends and for sale to the highest bidder, which in this case is the French partisans who are hot on the scent of a chic society woman who betrayed her husband to the Vichy authorities. His mission, should he choose to accept it, is to use his wiles to seduce this cold adulteress and bring her to French Algeria for trial and execution. Flagg sets most of the tale in Teheran, which in those pre-fundamentalist revolutionary days was an exotic international locale half modern European and half like a scene out of the Arabian Nights. Flagg uses this setting to his advantage in this swift moving espionage tale where no one trusts each other’s motives and every step could end with a veritable and often literal knife in the back. A very enjoyable read.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting dark little spy story where no one ever seems truly trustworthy, with twists and cynicism and yet cause for hope by the end, as represented by the protagonist Denby, a man broken by World War II.

[Kurt Weber · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hard boiled