The Deadly Lady of Madagascar

by Frank G. Slaughter

The first time Richard Douglas saw Bonita, she stood tall and straight on the deck. Her long, dark hair spilled over her almost-naked shoulders; her beautiful body seemed charged with passion, ready for adventure. At that moment Douglas vowed he would win her. But that was before he knew that Bonita was the daughter of the infamous pirate Red Carter, the man he had sworn to fight. Or that she could handle a cutlass like a man - and commanded a ruthless and bloodthirsty pirate band of her own. Finally, it was she who chose him for a mate. But first he had to prove himself - as a pirate and a lover!

198 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1959

About the author

Frank Gill Slaughter , pen-name Frank G. Slaughter, pseudonym C.V. Terry, was an American novelist and physician whose books sold more than 60 million copies. His novels drew on his own experience as a doctor and his interest in history and the Bible. Through his novels, he often introduced readers to new findings in medical research and new medical technologies.

Slaughter was born in Washington, D.C., the son of Stephen Lucious Slaughter and Sarah "Sallie" Nicholson Gill. When he was about five years old, his family moved to a farm near Berea, North Carolina, which is west of Oxford, North Carolina. He earned a bachelor's degree from Trinity College (now Duke University) at 17 and went to medical school at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. He began writing fiction in 1935 while a physician at Riverside Hospital in Jacksonville, Florida.

Books by Slaughter include The Purple Quest, Surgeon, U.S.A., Epidemic! , Tomorrow's Miracle and The Scarlet Cord. Slaughter died May 17, 2001 in Jacksonville, Florida.

Reviews

[Emilie Marshall]

Want to read a romance novel about pirates from 1959? "Absolutely" was my response when I saw this paperback on the shelf at a Salvation Army in an Arizona retirement community. The cover featured an extremely sexy and badass looking lady pirate, with what I assumed to be the protagonist in the background, looking standardly handsome but certainly second fiddle to this female heroine. I have never read a romance novel before because my literary tastes are far too stuck up for that, but recently some galpals and I had been discussing a possible future adventure to Madagascar, and after sending a pic to the group chat, I decided "what the hell. buying it. Who needs two gumballs or two handfuls of Mike and Ikes anyway." (jk I'm an adult and quarters are for parking meters and not breaking bigger bills)(side thought, people that eat Good-n-Plentys are about to go extinct because candy quality had evolved astronomically. Eating a Good-n-Plenty would be like using a rotary phone).

Diving into my first romance novel was a bit exciting. This was the book I carried with me while walking El Camino de Santiago across northern Spain, and I kept waiting impatiently for the part where they went to town. I mean this thing was written in 19 fricken 59, what does a male from 1959 have to say about the permeating lust over a sexy female pirate!? Well. He kept me waiting. I started to lose hope. I wondered why was I bothering to read this weird shitty paperback written in an expired time where misogynists reigned, and where so far the closest thing that came to sex was a scene where they're having a picnic in the (jungle?) and the hot badass chick (virgin, of course) decides to skinny dip in the picturesque pool by the waterfall, and the narrator has to decide whether or not he is going to RAPE her (this was written as nonchalantly as though he was deciding whether or not he felt like squashing an ant or tear some grass from the lawn) and the inner monologue was along the lines of "I knew I could take her, and she would not be able to stop me..." etc etc. Oh, but our noble hero decides NOT to, dear readers, so we better reward him with her hand in marriage later. And also, she's the daughter of the most feared pirate in all the land, who turns out to be an OK guy aside from the murder and pillaging, and so they inherit all sorts of wonderful riches and et ceteras and I recall the ending being a total mind game of "I don't want you to come to my private island!" which was really just a test, and he proves himself by coming to the private island. Or something. I don't know but they lived happily ever after and Frank Slaughter was too much of a prude in 1959 and didn't give any elicit details whatsoever about sexual intercourse so what was the point of this book anyway.

It sounds like I didn't like it but it certainly got my wheels turning and made me think if I was a college professor I would teach a class where we read a large variety of romance novels spanning several decades and comparing the changes in the roles women and men play as well as the difference between male and female writers and additionally who is the target and resulting audience of these books and this was my first (and quite possibly last) piece of data on the subject. And as I mentioned, the cover was really cool. Much cooler than the one Goodreads displays.

[Jose Antonio · Rating 3 out of 5]

Esta olvidadísima novela cayó en mis manos por casualidad (en realidad encontré el libro abandonado en la calle y, como Diógenes literario, no pude resistirme a llevármelo).
Ante este tipo de libros desconocidos que me encuentro lo que suelo hacer es someterlos a la prueba de las 30 páginas. Si tras la lectura de estas me siento impelido a continuar, me interesa la trama o los personajes, adelante. Si no es así, lo devuelvo donde lo encontré. En este caso, superó la prueba. Me dejó un regusto a Salgari y a aventuras leídas en mi lejana adolescencia.
El autor, Frank G. Slaughter, hoy olvidado, fue en los años 50 un famoso autor de best sellers norteamericano. Fue muy prolífico y se le recuerda, aunque poco, por sus novelas con médicos o cirujanos como protagonistas.
Esta novela es rara en su producción: es una novela histórica de aventuras con piratas ambientada a principios del siglo XVIII. Es muy entretenida y la traducción (que es lo que puedo juzgar) está muy bien escrita. Parece una novela de Emilio Salgari un poquito más actualizada con un autor que describe las cirugías a que se someten algunos personajes heridos con inhabitual precisión.
Asistimos a abordajes, luchas navales y una historia de amor romántico bastante recatada (está escrita en 1959). Utiliza profusamente el vocabulario marinero y recuerda a una película de piratas de los años 50 en Technicolor.
Está narrada en primera persona (como la clásica Moby Dick) por un capitán de barco escocés que va a a protagonizar aventuras bastante emocionantes (aunque dentro de un molde clásico un poco acartonado). La primera persona le proporciona inmediatez a la narración y consigue que nos sumerjamos más en la aventura.
No es una maravilla literaria pero se lee con fluidez y consigue que pasemos un buen rato.

[Rob Smith, Jr. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title is a melodramatic turn for this tale of piracy on the high seas. If a reader would like to have a feel for life as a pirate over 200 years ago, this will help a great deal.

As usual Slaughter work towards details of history and works hard to place the reader in the midst of wherever his tales are set. the settings are extraordinary in writing. As the tale starts in a very young New York the reader will be a part of the cobblestone streets, dampness of air, and enclosure to a smothering set of structures of the time. Later, the reader can feel the vast seas as a ship sails into storms that are wet and windy. My writing stinks to describe what Slaughter writes with seemingly ease. Dive in to capture the lifestyle of a pirate.

Trouble for Slaughter in this book is also typical of his work: A trifle of a romantic plot. Basically this novel is like a Harlequin plot in a very well written setting. This is also certainly a pirate's slice of life.

The main characters are very well written, with supporting characters getting minor or stereotyped treatment. There is a secondary dwarf character that is very interesting and i wish Slaughter had unveiled more about him.

Bottom line: i recommend this book. 8 out of 10 points.

[Alonzo Church · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book starts well, with plenty of swash and buckle, and a decent setup, as our hero enlists with the East India Company to go on a secret mission to break up a den of pirates. Halfway through, the plot focus changes, and while there is still plenty of action, there seems to be a lot less at stake, and the whole thing just gets less interesting. That's true even though our hero fights some naval engagements, and continues to have the luck and pluck necessary to win fair lady. It's just that Slaughter, who writes quite well, and has taken care with the historical setting, has done that invisible something that slowly kills the book. Maybe it's the 50s, (1950s -- not the 1700s where this is set) which demands that even deadly pirate ladies long to be dominated by their MAN.

[Shelby Wiederin · Rating 1 out of 5]

I utterly hate and despise this book. supposed to be an erotic pirate book more like a virgin wrote an erotic book . you find your self with this book Do Not Get It!