The Evolution of Desmond Cory
February 7, 2017Richard McCarthy provides a summary of the 16 Johnny Fedora novels that were written over a twenty year period. The novels reached a peak of popularity in the late 60’s and early 70’s and following great demand for espionage novels at the time, Award Books published the ‘Johnny Fedora Assignment series” from 1968 - 1971. Today many of the novels are available in electronic format on Amazon kindle, ensuring the continuity of Fedora novels from 1951 to the present.
With grateful acknowledgment to the DesmondCory.com website
T HE FEDORA SERIES consists of 16 novels written over a period of twenty years, all taking place in exotic locations.
In the first novel, Secret Ministry, Johnny Fedora is introduced as a secret agent whose forte is the ability to outshoot, outwit, and outmaneuver his Cold War opponents. In subsequent novels, he is often teamed up with Sebastian Trout from the Foreign Office. Johnny's connection with British intelligence is unofficial, but is hired by them for specific assignments.
Fedora: published 1951-2017
The novels reached notable popularity in the late 60’s and early 70’s, many of them being republished in the USA under different titles. Following the great demand for espionage novels at that time, Award Books published the “Johnny Fedora Espionage Assignment series” from 1968-1971.
The last five Fedora books are sometimes called the Feramontov Quintet. They share a common antagonist in Feramontov, a Soviet secret operative. The quintet begins with Undertow and includes Hammerhead, Feramontov, Timelock, and Sunburst. Like Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Moriarity, Fedora and Feramontov see each other as arch enemies, although here the stakes are higher with, on occasion, the future of civilised existence at stake
The durability Johnny Fedora is reflected in novels such as Undertow, last published in November 2011, over forty five years after it was originally written.
Many of the novels are also available in electronic format on Amazon Kindle.
