John Flagg’s Woman of Cairo

John Flagg’s Woman of Cairo is a 1953 spy thriller.

American John Gearon wrote eight espionage/crime novels between 1950 and 1961 using the pseudonym John Flagg. All were published as Fawcett Gold Medal editions.

This is pre-James Bond spy fiction but don’t jump to the conclusion that that means it’s dull. It isn’t. While it’s more a suspense thriller than an action thriller there is a perfectly adequate supply of action. The sex and violence are more muted than in the Bond novels, but both those elements are definitely present.

As in most spy fiction from the late 40s and early 50s the Second World War casts its shadow over this tale. Spy fiction had not yet become dominated by the Cold War. There are communist agitators in this story but they do not take centre stage. The Soviets play no part whatsoever in this story.

The setting is of course Egypt. The situation is very unsettled, and could become chaotic at any time. The regime of King Farouk is by no means stable. There are many factions jockeying for power behind the scenes. The British are nervous.They are horrified by the prospect of losing control of the Suez Canal (a fear which would lead to the Suez débâcle in 1956 which proved to be the end of Britain as a Great Power) and losing a reliable client state.

Hart Muldoon is an American intelligence agent, now retired. He no longer wants any part of the spy business but since he’s just had some very bad luck at the gambling tables the British are able to persuade him to take on a job for them. They’ve lost one of their bombers. With a full load of bombs aboard. They’d like it back.

A shady character named Jeremiah Grant may be involved, as well as a German named von Bruckner. The idea is for Muldoon to seduce von Bruckner’s mistress Gina. His first contact however is a pretty blonde named Sigried McCarthy.

Muldoon falls for Gina, which was not part of the plan. He also sleeps with pretty young French chanteuse Marianne Courbet.

Finding a lead on that missing British bomber turns out to be frustratingly difficult. A man with possible information is murdered in front of Muldoon’s eyes. He knows the bomber is near an oasis, but he has no idea where the oasis is.

Muldoon finds himself embroiled with three women, all of whom could fall into the dangerous dames category. Gina’s brother Guido seems pretty shifty, and there’s a handsome charming young Frenchman named Armand Trouvier who hangs around the women a bit too much. King Farouk’s security chief is taking an uncomfortably close interest in his activities.

While Muldoon is juggling his women Egypt moves closer to an explosion. It could end in revolution, an Islamic takeover or a military coup. Or Farouk might regain control. One of the many factions stirring up trouble is the Sons of Mecca. They’re religious fanatics but they appear to have surprising links to either Jeremiah Grant or von Bruckner, or both. Muldoon is puzzled by this. Most of all he’s puzzled why anyone should think that the possession of a single British bomber is important. It’s not carrying nuclear weapons.

Ian Fleming’s Bond novels upped the ante as far as sex and violence were concerned and added hints of sadism. Perhaps surprisingly Woman of Cairo has some moderately shocking violence, it has lots of sex (although not described graphically) and it has hints of just about everything that in 1953 would have been considered sexual deviation. And to be honest not just hints. It’s pretty blatant about it. This is a pretty sleazy book.

Hart Muldoon is also a surprising pre-Bond spy hero. He tries to seduce every woman he encounters (and succeeds with most of them). He gives one of the women a fairly savage beating without even knowing if she’s on the side of the good guys or the bad guys. And he commits two murders. In 1940s/early 50s spy thrillers it was acceptable for the hero to kill people but it had to be in self-defence, to save the life of someone else or it had to be absolutely essential to the mission and to national security. But Muldoon’s kills are cold-blooded murder, they’re not the least bit essential to the mission and they’re motivated by personal feelings of revenge and sexual jealousy. Hart Muldoon is very close to being an authentic anti-hero.

The women all have some depth to them. There are lots of characters (including several European expatriates gone bad) who have become morally compromised but there are understandable reasons for their moral corruption.

The plot is rather clever.

The historical background is fascinating and the exotic setting is used extremely well. There’s an atmosphere of corruption and paranoia. In fact this novel has just about everything you could want in a spy thriller. Highly recommended.

I’ve also reviewed three other John Flagg spy thrillers - The Lady and the Cheetah, Death and the Naked Lady and The Persian Cat. They’re very good and I highly recommend all three. And they're all in print!

Stark House have paired this one in a two-novel paperback with another Hank Muldoon thriller, Dear, Deadly Beloved.