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McHugh #1
McHugh
The world's dark streets are his beat–
His name's McHugh.
His home is a briefcase... containing a fifth of Scotch and a .45.
Some day he'll retire, go back to the blonde who keeps her lonely vigil by beting out belly songs in a San Francisco bar.
Maybe after this one last job. After he tracks down the missing electronics expert who knows too many classified secrets.
If he lives that long...
His name's McHugh.
His home is a briefcase... containing a fifth of Scotch and a .45.
Some day he'll retire, go back to the blonde who keeps her lonely vigil by beting out belly songs in a San Francisco bar.
Maybe after this one last job. After he tracks down the missing electronics expert who knows too many classified secrets.
If he lives that long...
159 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 1959
1 person is currently reading
19 people want to read
About the author
Jay M. Flynn
23 books1 followerJay Flynn was an American author who also wrote under the name J.M. Flynn.
Jay Flynn was born John M. Flynn on March 31, 1928, in Massachusetts. A Boston Irishman, he worked variously as a newspaperman, a bartender, editor, sex novelist, bootlegger, security guard, caretaker and, he claimed, "writer-in-residence" at a Nevada whorehouse.
His first published work was his only short story, "The Badger Game," followed by the novel, The Deadly Boodle as J. M. Flynn, part of an Ace Double in 1958. In 1975, Flynn went to work for the low-tier publisher, Belmont-Tower, where he lasted two years—fired because of his drinking—then moved to Richmond, Virginia, where he lived for a while on skid row. Eventually relocating to Connecticut, he checked into a V.A. hospital in Branford for a checkup, where he died of cancer at age 57 on February 6, 1986.
He also contributed at least one book to the Western author collective of Jack Slade.
Jay Flynn was born John M. Flynn on March 31, 1928, in Massachusetts. A Boston Irishman, he worked variously as a newspaperman, a bartender, editor, sex novelist, bootlegger, security guard, caretaker and, he claimed, "writer-in-residence" at a Nevada whorehouse.
His first published work was his only short story, "The Badger Game," followed by the novel, The Deadly Boodle as J. M. Flynn, part of an Ace Double in 1958. In 1975, Flynn went to work for the low-tier publisher, Belmont-Tower, where he lasted two years—fired because of his drinking—then moved to Richmond, Virginia, where he lived for a while on skid row. Eventually relocating to Connecticut, he checked into a V.A. hospital in Branford for a checkup, where he died of cancer at age 57 on February 6, 1986.
He also contributed at least one book to the Western author collective of Jack Slade.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
July 2, 2025
“McHugh” is the first of five men’s action-espionage novels that Flynn put out in the early Sixties. The series includes “McHugh” (1959), “It’s Murder, McHugh” (1960), “Viva McHugh” (1960), “A Body for McHugh” (1960), and “The Five Faces of Murder”(1962), all published by Avon with outstanding cover art.
McHugh appears to be a CIA agent, although that precise agency is never explicitly mentioned. He is nevertheless a federal agent based in San Francisco who in his spare time runs a bar, “the Door,” considered neutral territory by agents who congregate there. Indeed, “the rumdum customers were, for the most part, agents of an assortment of nations, friendly and otherwise. They made The Door a no man’s land, a club of sorts where opposite numbers could and often did drink together and practice telling lies and picking each other’s brains.” Almost you exclaim like that bar in the opening scene of Star Wars. Well, not quite.
McHugh is described as: ” just under six feet tall, a big-boned man who was lean at a hundred ninety-five pounds. The dampness was already curling his short hair, salted with gray at the temples. His face was weathered, with a permanent tan, and the nose had been broken. In the terminal lights his eyes had the color of new maple syrup—the clear, light kind they make in Vermont when the snow is still deep around the trees and wisps of steam rise from the broad rumps of the horses.” McHugh harkens back to the tough-take-no-prisoners give-no-quarter hard-drinking and hard-fighting kind of heroes.
McHugh has a back and forth with the local FBI led by Nick Foote and Jim Murrell, who are at odds with him often and want him ordered to be somewhere else. As the story opens they meet him at his plane and warn him that the case is not in his department and they do not need any help from “the five-sided doghouse,” seemingly an oblique reference to the Pentagon. It seems that the FBI is interested in Loris Anderson who coincidentally owns a bar with McHugh and also has a romantic relationship with him. More significantly for them, Loris has a baby sister, Nadine, who is tight with Johnny Stover. Stover, an old-car nut, who disappeared in Monterey in a Pierce-Arrow phaeton, was an electrical engineer on a classified government project. They want him found- fast- and they don’t want anyone else getting to him first.
“The Door” is a kind of rough and tumble jazz bar where Loris frequently plays piano. “The cone of light slanted through shifting layers of smoke, haloed cornsilk-blonde hair and built soft shadows on the fine bone structure of her face.” It is just that dark, smoky bar and she is just that Veronica Lake kind of blonde. Flynn offers enough atmosphere to let the reader know you are in foggy cold San Francisco with the wind whispering off the bay and the fog making gauzy halos of the street lights.Loris does not exactly know what McHugh does in real life. She just knows that his job is “offbeat, and there’s enough brass behind it to make four-star generals bow and tug their forelocks.”
What happens though is that, when McHugh goes to Nadine’s apartment to see if she’s there or if Johnny has returned, he finds instead a bloody corpse with a giant hole in the neck and he quickly hides Loris and Nadine, knowing something ain’t right and someone other than the FBI is after Johnny. Johnny, by the way, engineer by trade, is in debt up to his eyeballs and there are hoodlums who have bought his chits. McHugh tangles with the hoodlums a few times before he starts putting two and two together and realizes why they are all after Johnny and that Johnny, brilliant engineer though he may be, might not be the best partner for Nadine.
This first volume in the five-volume series has a feel much more of a hardboiled detective story, particularly when McHugh takes a leave of absence to take care of business after being ordered off the case. International espionage sort of takes a backseat to the hardboiled mystery aspects. But this reader is not complaining. No, not at all.
McHugh appears to be a CIA agent, although that precise agency is never explicitly mentioned. He is nevertheless a federal agent based in San Francisco who in his spare time runs a bar, “the Door,” considered neutral territory by agents who congregate there. Indeed, “the rumdum customers were, for the most part, agents of an assortment of nations, friendly and otherwise. They made The Door a no man’s land, a club of sorts where opposite numbers could and often did drink together and practice telling lies and picking each other’s brains.” Almost you exclaim like that bar in the opening scene of Star Wars. Well, not quite.
McHugh is described as: ” just under six feet tall, a big-boned man who was lean at a hundred ninety-five pounds. The dampness was already curling his short hair, salted with gray at the temples. His face was weathered, with a permanent tan, and the nose had been broken. In the terminal lights his eyes had the color of new maple syrup—the clear, light kind they make in Vermont when the snow is still deep around the trees and wisps of steam rise from the broad rumps of the horses.” McHugh harkens back to the tough-take-no-prisoners give-no-quarter hard-drinking and hard-fighting kind of heroes.
McHugh has a back and forth with the local FBI led by Nick Foote and Jim Murrell, who are at odds with him often and want him ordered to be somewhere else. As the story opens they meet him at his plane and warn him that the case is not in his department and they do not need any help from “the five-sided doghouse,” seemingly an oblique reference to the Pentagon. It seems that the FBI is interested in Loris Anderson who coincidentally owns a bar with McHugh and also has a romantic relationship with him. More significantly for them, Loris has a baby sister, Nadine, who is tight with Johnny Stover. Stover, an old-car nut, who disappeared in Monterey in a Pierce-Arrow phaeton, was an electrical engineer on a classified government project. They want him found- fast- and they don’t want anyone else getting to him first.
“The Door” is a kind of rough and tumble jazz bar where Loris frequently plays piano. “The cone of light slanted through shifting layers of smoke, haloed cornsilk-blonde hair and built soft shadows on the fine bone structure of her face.” It is just that dark, smoky bar and she is just that Veronica Lake kind of blonde. Flynn offers enough atmosphere to let the reader know you are in foggy cold San Francisco with the wind whispering off the bay and the fog making gauzy halos of the street lights.Loris does not exactly know what McHugh does in real life. She just knows that his job is “offbeat, and there’s enough brass behind it to make four-star generals bow and tug their forelocks.”
What happens though is that, when McHugh goes to Nadine’s apartment to see if she’s there or if Johnny has returned, he finds instead a bloody corpse with a giant hole in the neck and he quickly hides Loris and Nadine, knowing something ain’t right and someone other than the FBI is after Johnny. Johnny, by the way, engineer by trade, is in debt up to his eyeballs and there are hoodlums who have bought his chits. McHugh tangles with the hoodlums a few times before he starts putting two and two together and realizes why they are all after Johnny and that Johnny, brilliant engineer though he may be, might not be the best partner for Nadine.
This first volume in the five-volume series has a feel much more of a hardboiled detective story, particularly when McHugh takes a leave of absence to take care of business after being ordered off the case. International espionage sort of takes a backseat to the hardboiled mystery aspects. But this reader is not complaining. No, not at all.
November 4, 2016
Old time action and intrigue. Enjoyable book introducing McHugh, Loris and their bar- The Door
December 11, 2019
I received this book for free. I am voluntarily posting this review and all opinions expressed herein are my own.
This book was originally published in 1959. The origins of this series supposedly occurred when Flynn's agent sold a 3 book series over a drunken lunch. McHugh is a tough adventurous American spy who owns a bar called The Door with his lover Loris - who sings and bartends. The book is somewhat dated but it does have several pretty good action sequences and a couple of amusing lines you might chuckle over. What detracted most, for me, was the narration. I found it to be almost lethargic and I had to speed it up in order to stay engaged with the story.
This book was originally published in 1959. The origins of this series supposedly occurred when Flynn's agent sold a 3 book series over a drunken lunch. McHugh is a tough adventurous American spy who owns a bar called The Door with his lover Loris - who sings and bartends. The book is somewhat dated but it does have several pretty good action sequences and a couple of amusing lines you might chuckle over. What detracted most, for me, was the narration. I found it to be almost lethargic and I had to speed it up in order to stay engaged with the story.
January 12, 2025
A San Francisco-based spy McHugh gets involved in the disappearance of his partner-girlfriend's sister's shady boyfriend, who owes gambling debts to the mob. McHugh is involved because the missing boyfriend works for a defense contractor.
One negative about the book is that San Francisco in 1959 was a colorful, swinging place with a lot of interesting characters, but none of that shows up on the pages of this first book of what would become a series. It might be because Jay Flynn wasn't from San Francisco and really didn't know it that well. There are very few references to well-known streets or landmarks.
One negative about the book is that San Francisco in 1959 was a colorful, swinging place with a lot of interesting characters, but none of that shows up on the pages of this first book of what would become a series. It might be because Jay Flynn wasn't from San Francisco and really didn't know it that well. There are very few references to well-known streets or landmarks.
September 1, 2022
A Vintage Spy/Detective Genre Novella
McHugh, with an espionage background, investigates a murder linked to organized crime. Good story for readers that loved Ian Fleming. Narrator uses a Southern accent, which was a B- for me. #1 of a 5 book series.
McHugh, with an espionage background, investigates a murder linked to organized crime. Good story for readers that loved Ian Fleming. Narrator uses a Southern accent, which was a B- for me. #1 of a 5 book series.
November 20, 2019
Worst book I've ever read.
September 19, 2021
I honestly didn't care for this of murder mystery. It did not keep my interest. The narrator voiced it well. There was too much happening to keep track of the storyline and characters.
June 28, 2019
A very entertaining retro spy yarn with a sophisticated tough-guy hero. Theo Holland provides spot-on narration.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews