Created by Robin Moore and Al Dempsey
When we first meet him in this men’s adventure series from the mid-seventies, TIM KYLE (married, with children) is the vice-president and chief operations officer for Pulsar International, and has been for years. Pulsar is an international detective agency that boasts an incredible arsenal of surveillance devices, high-tech security systems and space-age weaponry, and specializes in countering global espionage. Its similarities to the television series Search, which aired a few years earlier, were obvious–right down to the typeface choices.
But I digress…
In the first book, The London Switch (1974), we learn that the owner of Pulsar got mixed up with some neo-Nazis in a scheme to use the agency’s technology to take over the world. Kyle brings his partner down and inherits the business–and the rest of the series.
Which isn’t quite the bonus it seemed–the series only spawned one more title. The fact that Tim was slightly older than the average Men’s Adventure hero, and was married, with children may have had something to do with it. Nor did it help that, as an executive, much of the heavy lifting–despite the covers–was done by others. Tim doesn’t even carry a gun in the actual books.
The title of second book, the following year’s The Italian Connection, was no coincidence. Hard to believe, maybe, but co-writer Robin Moore was a noted journalist and non-fiction author back in the seventies, probably best known for bestsellers like The Green Berets, The Happy Hooker and, yes, The French Connection.
As for co-author Al Dempsey? Beats me.
NOVELS
- Pulsar Internatioanal #1: The London Switch (1974) | Buy this book
- Pulsar Internatioanal #2: The Italian Connection (1975) | Buy this book
FURTHER INVESTIGATION
- Private Eyes By the Number
P.I.s in Men’s Adventure Books
Respectfully submitted by Glen Davis. Additional info by Kevin Burton Smith. And that Canadian Tire just keeps rolling along…
