These are linked short stories so they really do need to be read in sequence. In fact it’s more like an episodic novel.
While the stories date from the mid-30s they’re set in the period before the First World War.
The first story gives us her backstory. She is the daughter of a ruthless gambling club owner and criminal in Shanghai. He is Duke Donellan. Duke is putting the screws on the hapless Alan Legrand. Legrand owes Duke a lot of money. Duke doesn’t want the money back, he wants to use the debt to force Legrand to do his bidding. Poor Legrand is also hopelessly in love with Duke’s daughter Vivian. He hasn’t figured out that Vivian has inherited her father’s ruthless streak. Legrand and Vivian hatch a plan but will they prove to be clever enough to get the best of Duke?
Vivian’s story continues in Bait for Men as she gets mixed up in a plot against a rajah in Malaya, and lands herself in trouble. Vivian is still inexperienced in the word of crime and intrigue but she’s learning fast. She has acquired a partner, Doc Wylie. And she has learnt to think on her feet.
No-one would be crazy enough to try to blackmail the British Secret Service but in The Episode of the Secret Service Blackmail that is exactly what Vivian Legrand does. The case involves a stolen letter that could be political dynamite. Vivian did not steal the letter but she knows who did. The British Secret Service is desperate. For three thousand pounds Vivian can save them a great deal of embarrassment and anguish.
What Vivian doesn’t know is that there’s more than embarrassment at stake for the British. The entire future of British India hangs in the balance. Vivian doesn’t care about British India but with so much at stake there could be a chance of gaining more than three thousand pounds. She is forced to behave ruthlessly, but that doesn’t bother her one bit.
The Episode of the Forty Murderers concerns a prisoner in the Andaman Islands. That prisoner knows something that could be worth a lot of money to several different countries, and could mean a hefty profit for Vivian Legrand. She will have to engineer a gaolbreak. That certainly doesn’t bother her.
In The Episode of the Grave Robbers Vivian is intrigued by an old woman who has been losing vast amounts of money at the casino at Monte Carlo. The old woman lives in squalor and has no money, so where does the money she squanders at the casino come from? Vivian suspects that the money is not come by honestly, and that could be an opportunity for a ruthless blackmailer like herself.
Vivian gets into more trouble in The Episode of the Levantine Monster and has more narrow escapes. She is betrayed by a woman but Vivian knows how to deal with such situations. She has the girl sold into slavery.
Vivian was always likely to end up behind bars, which happens in The Episode of the League of Death. But you can’t keep a bad woman down. Vivian certainly has no intention of remaining in a Turkish prison. Getting out will require a considerable amount of ruthlessness, a quality she has in abundance.
In The Episode of the Orient Express Robbery Vivian finds herself held captive by a bandit chieftain. He wants to marry her. Her other problem is that the bandit chieftain’s daughter wants her dead. She comes up with a plan to evade the marriage and stay alive and if it all goes well she will also pull off one of the most spectacular robberies in history - robbing the Orient Express. Her plan is as devious as you would expect.
In The Episode of the House of Secrets a crooked American banker on the run needs help. Perhaps Vivian will help him. At a price. All he has to do is to trust her. People have trusted her before. They always regretted it.
The Pounce of Death involves an inheritance and Vivian’s devious scheme to get a share to which she is most definitely not entitled. There’s more than one criminal conspiracy in this tale, and more than one criminal gang. Vivian has no doubt she will come out on top as usual.
Vivian has no redeeming qualities. She is a thief, a blackmailer and a murderess. She is cruel, vindictive and has no moral scruples. She is also intelligent, resourceful and daring and one can’t help developing a liking for her. She’s a classic sexy bad girl. She’s also an early example of an anti-heroine.
The stories are clever, fast-paced, devious and fun. Thoroughly enjoyable and highly recommended.
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