Created by John Flagg
Pseudonym of John Rex Gearon
(1911-93)
A former op for the O.S.S. (the early version of the C.I.A.) during World War II , HART MULDOON decides to hang around the French Riviera and Monaco after the war, setting himself up as a sort of spy-for-hire. He often claims all he’s really looking for is a long-dreamed-upon retirement to a quiet farm in Maine, but he seems to be having a good old time right where he is, drinking, gambling, and having sex with minors, married women and any other female he can charm.
Which seems to be many.
He appeared in five cheesy (but well-written), action-packed, free-swinging paperback originals, all published by Fawcett Gold Medal. In fact, Flagg’s non-Muldoon book, The Persian Cat (1950), was the first PBO novel to be published by Gold Medal.
But I digress. Back to Muldoon. How, you may wonder, does he pay for his lavish lifestyle?
Got a problem? Does it involve murder? Kidnapping? Robbery? Blackmail? Extortion? Espionage?
If you were looking for someone to look into such matters, Muldoon’s your man. He’s an investigator for hire, a fixer, a troubleshooter, a mercenary, a freelance agent who makes trouble his business. He’ll work for individuals, corporations, governments–pretty much anyone who’ll ante up.
Or, as he puts it, “… since the end of World War Two I’d stayed on in Europe watching– with what I told myself was cynical indifference– the world falling apart. I’d been wrapped up in dirty deals for dirty squares and shaky governments, out for hire to anything this side of the Iron Curtain and to anyone who could come up with a reasonable price.”
In other words, he’ll get the job done, no matter what it takes. He’ll lie, cheat, steal and even kill.
And travel. In the series he journeys to Paris, Tehran, Venice, Cairo, the Caribbean and fictitious towns and even nations in Europe, the Middle East and the Mediterranean, while maintaining his base on the Riviera.
As long as somebody else is paying the fare.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
John Rex Gearon, better known to readers as John Flagg, was born in Chicago, Illinois, and educated in Englewood, New Jersey. He began his career as a playwright in the thirties and published a well-received first novel, The Velvet Well, in 1946, but is probably best known now (if only by collectors) for the thrillers he wrote for Fawcett Gold Medal in the 1950s and 60s, including include the five Hart Muldoon books. They generally had great covers.
UNDER OATH
- “John Flagg has a distinctive voice in noir fiction, with vivid descriptions of those exotic settings and loads of fascinating characters.”
— Kristofer Upjohn (Noir Journal) - “Opulently visualized scenes and an operatic sort of larger-than-life intrigue.”
— Anthony Boucher (New York Times Book Review)
NOVELS
- Woman of Cairo (1953) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
- Dear, Deadly Beloved (1954) | Buy this book
- Murder in Monaco (1957) | Buy this book
- Death’s Lovely Mask (1958) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
- The Paradise Gun (1961) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
COLLECTIONS
- Woman of Cairo/Dear, Deadly Beloved (2020) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
- Murder in Monaco/Death’s Lovely Mask (2024) | Buy this book
Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.
