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Back Room Girl
Never published in paperback, and back in print for the first time since 1950, Back Room Girl was the first original novel by Francis Durbridge.
Retiring to No Man’s Cove in Cornwall to write his memoirs, crime reporter Roy Benton discovers that a disused tin mine has become a research station for a secret weapons project. Karen Silvers, in charge of operations, reluctantly accepts that Benton’s experience could help her fight a sinister organisation intent on stealing their plans.
Having adapted five of his Paul Temple radio serials into successful novelisations, in 1950 Francis Durbridge decided to try his hand at writing his first original novel. Back Room Girl bore all the hallmarks of the famous Paul Temple stories, an outlandish mixture of mystery, glamour and suspense, in a book that was never reprinted and so became an enigma to his many fans – until now.
Includes an introduction by bibliographer Melvyn Barnesplus two rare short stories written for Christmas and A PRESENT FROM PAUL TEMPLE.
Retiring to No Man’s Cove in Cornwall to write his memoirs, crime reporter Roy Benton discovers that a disused tin mine has become a research station for a secret weapons project. Karen Silvers, in charge of operations, reluctantly accepts that Benton’s experience could help her fight a sinister organisation intent on stealing their plans.
Having adapted five of his Paul Temple radio serials into successful novelisations, in 1950 Francis Durbridge decided to try his hand at writing his first original novel. Back Room Girl bore all the hallmarks of the famous Paul Temple stories, an outlandish mixture of mystery, glamour and suspense, in a book that was never reprinted and so became an enigma to his many fans – until now.
Includes an introduction by bibliographer Melvyn Barnesplus two rare short stories written for Christmas and A PRESENT FROM PAUL TEMPLE.
218 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 22, 2018
5 people want to read
About the author
Francis Durbridge
333 books34 followersFrancis Henry Durbridge was an English playwright and author born in Hull. In 1938, he created the character Paul Temple for the BBC radio serial Send for Paul Temple.
A crime novelist and detective, the gentlemanly Temple solved numerous crimes with the help of Steve Trent, a Fleet Street journalist who later became his wife. The character proved enormously popular and appeared in 16 radio serials and later spawned a 64-part big-budget television series (1969-71) and radio productions, as well as a number of comic strips, four feature films and various foreign radio productions.
Francis Durbridge also had a successful career as a writer for the stage and screen. His most successful play, Suddenly at Home, ran in London’s West End for over a year.
A crime novelist and detective, the gentlemanly Temple solved numerous crimes with the help of Steve Trent, a Fleet Street journalist who later became his wife. The character proved enormously popular and appeared in 16 radio serials and later spawned a 64-part big-budget television series (1969-71) and radio productions, as well as a number of comic strips, four feature films and various foreign radio productions.
Francis Durbridge also had a successful career as a writer for the stage and screen. His most successful play, Suddenly at Home, ran in London’s West End for over a year.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 18, 2019
Released in 1950, when Francis Durbridge’s Paul Temple was everywhere on BBC radio, Back Room Girl shows the writer at the zenith of his power to entertain. Those who come at this expecting a gripping spy novel in the le Carré vein are best to consider that this charming and entertaining novel has more in common with the kind of romance and spy intrigue of late-1940s films than it does some literary work, and is all the more fun for its lack of pretension or aspirations. It is, in short, a blast.
While Durbridge novelized many of his famous radio serials featuring the sophisticated Paul Temple and Steve — martinis and murder, anyone? — on occasion he also rewrote and reworked one of his wildly popular Paul Temple mysteries by replacing Paul Temple and Steve with completely different characters. While both of these are usually quite fun, Back Room Girl is something quite different. It was Durbridge’s first book which didn’t have at its center Paul Temple and his wife, Steve, nor was it based on a Paul Temple story. After reading this, I find that a real shame, because it is tremendously enjoyable on the level of entertainment.
In one minor nod to Paul Temple, crime reporter Roy Benton is a Fleet Street reporter. But that is the only similarity to the Paul Temple stories you’ll find in this novel — outside of it being great fun, just as Paul Temple was. Benton has retired to the coast of Cornwall to write his memoirs. Footprints on the beach suck both Benton and the reader into a tale of spies during the war, and derring-do. Of course there’s a girl, Karen Silvers, and of course there’s going to be some back and forth between her and our hero, which precedes their old-fashioned romance.
Plans for secret weapons, caves, kidnappings and some heroics which in another writer’s hands might have come off as lightweight at best, and cartoonish at worst, instead are brought off with charm and excitement thanks to Durbridge’s skill. His background in radio actually helped give this atmosphere and movement, and made for a quite fun and appealing read, harkening back to the era of radio and films from which it came. That’s about all one could or should ask from this book, and it succeeds in grand fashion.
As long as you don’t think of this as a modern-day novel of spies and intrigue, or even compare it to older and more serious spy novels, you’ll have great fun reading this one at the beach, or out on the terrace with a glass of iced tea. I actually own the paperback version, which has a wonderful bonus in two brief Paul Temple stories. These delightful baubles are like gold nuggets for fans of Paul Temple and his wife, Steve. There is a light and fun air to these two short mysteries which harken back to another era — one with more charm and less vulgarity, which was less crass and had better taste. If you listen carefully, you can almost hear faint strains of Vivian Ellis’ Coronation Scot playing in the background to these two fun confections as you read.
Originally released in 1950 and 1951 in Daily Mail Annual for Boys and Girls they were meant to broaden appeal of the wildly popular radio mystery characters Paul Temple and his wife Steve to a slightly younger adult audience. Read today, they are very fun for all ages of Paul Temple fans.
In A Present for Paul Temple, Paul and Steve uncover smugglers. Paul is aided by a delightfully precocious young boy eager to ditch class, who lends our intrepid hero a hand. The story is quite charming, and one could envision it as a single broadcast entry of the popular and enduring radio show.
In Light-Fingers, Steve and Paul are run off the road by a thief attempting to elude capture. What follows is fun for the reader, because Paul’s deductions come from out of the blue, and are only explained to the reader — not to mention Steve and the Inspector — in the final afterward. While it's the lesser of the two stories, it's still breezy fun.
Extremely short in length, rather gossamer on mystery, but long on nostalgic charm, these baubles will have you chasing after longer Paul Temple stories. These two stories are a sweet bonus to Back Room Girl, which is an entertaining showcase for the talent of Francis Durbridge, who wrote a fun and rip-roaring tale imbued with charm.
While Durbridge novelized many of his famous radio serials featuring the sophisticated Paul Temple and Steve — martinis and murder, anyone? — on occasion he also rewrote and reworked one of his wildly popular Paul Temple mysteries by replacing Paul Temple and Steve with completely different characters. While both of these are usually quite fun, Back Room Girl is something quite different. It was Durbridge’s first book which didn’t have at its center Paul Temple and his wife, Steve, nor was it based on a Paul Temple story. After reading this, I find that a real shame, because it is tremendously enjoyable on the level of entertainment.
In one minor nod to Paul Temple, crime reporter Roy Benton is a Fleet Street reporter. But that is the only similarity to the Paul Temple stories you’ll find in this novel — outside of it being great fun, just as Paul Temple was. Benton has retired to the coast of Cornwall to write his memoirs. Footprints on the beach suck both Benton and the reader into a tale of spies during the war, and derring-do. Of course there’s a girl, Karen Silvers, and of course there’s going to be some back and forth between her and our hero, which precedes their old-fashioned romance.
Plans for secret weapons, caves, kidnappings and some heroics which in another writer’s hands might have come off as lightweight at best, and cartoonish at worst, instead are brought off with charm and excitement thanks to Durbridge’s skill. His background in radio actually helped give this atmosphere and movement, and made for a quite fun and appealing read, harkening back to the era of radio and films from which it came. That’s about all one could or should ask from this book, and it succeeds in grand fashion.
As long as you don’t think of this as a modern-day novel of spies and intrigue, or even compare it to older and more serious spy novels, you’ll have great fun reading this one at the beach, or out on the terrace with a glass of iced tea. I actually own the paperback version, which has a wonderful bonus in two brief Paul Temple stories. These delightful baubles are like gold nuggets for fans of Paul Temple and his wife, Steve. There is a light and fun air to these two short mysteries which harken back to another era — one with more charm and less vulgarity, which was less crass and had better taste. If you listen carefully, you can almost hear faint strains of Vivian Ellis’ Coronation Scot playing in the background to these two fun confections as you read.
Originally released in 1950 and 1951 in Daily Mail Annual for Boys and Girls they were meant to broaden appeal of the wildly popular radio mystery characters Paul Temple and his wife Steve to a slightly younger adult audience. Read today, they are very fun for all ages of Paul Temple fans.
In A Present for Paul Temple, Paul and Steve uncover smugglers. Paul is aided by a delightfully precocious young boy eager to ditch class, who lends our intrepid hero a hand. The story is quite charming, and one could envision it as a single broadcast entry of the popular and enduring radio show.
In Light-Fingers, Steve and Paul are run off the road by a thief attempting to elude capture. What follows is fun for the reader, because Paul’s deductions come from out of the blue, and are only explained to the reader — not to mention Steve and the Inspector — in the final afterward. While it's the lesser of the two stories, it's still breezy fun.
Extremely short in length, rather gossamer on mystery, but long on nostalgic charm, these baubles will have you chasing after longer Paul Temple stories. These two stories are a sweet bonus to Back Room Girl, which is an entertaining showcase for the talent of Francis Durbridge, who wrote a fun and rip-roaring tale imbued with charm.
June 21, 2022
Francis Durbridge famously wrote television series where each episode ended on a cliffhanger. So I had high hopes about "Back Room Girl" but unfortunately this is book is more Alistair MacLean but without the tension. A little disappointing.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews