Ray Martin (The Bodyguard)

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Created by Richard Reinsmith
Pseudonyms include Richard Rein Smith, Damon Castle, Ann Taylor, Dan Elliott

Journeyman writer Richard Reinsmith caught the Men’s Adventure wave with the eight-book Bodyguard series, published by bottom feeder paperback publisher Tower (and starting with book three,  Leisure Books).

Its hero/narrator was gray-haired RAY MARTIN, a highly regarded bodyguard working out of the Maryland/Washington D.C. area, with a secret weapon (besides his standard .38, and a Schmeisser submachine gun he keeps for “special occasions”): a sixth sense that kicks in when a client’s life is in danger.

Okay, it’s not quite as supercharged a gimmick as the comics’ Christopher Chance or Jonny Double, but it’s still a handy little hook/gimmick for Ray, whether he’s trying to protect a nymphomaniac model, a seductive starlet, a wealthy and gorgeous heiress or any other number of slinky, well-endowed, hot-to-trot client babes whose lovingly detailed bodies may of course need a little more than mere “guarding” from Ray.

The cover blurb for A Body in Paradise (21984), for example, has Ray journeying to the tropics on a job where “sun, fun, sex — and murder” are promised.

They’re those kinda books, and while nobody is gonna clear their shelves of Hammett or Chandler (or even Spillane) to make room for The Bodyguard series, Ray does do a fair bit of detective work, as does his assistant Pop, a retired PI,  (thus qualifying him for inclusion on this site), and the first-person narration is pleasantly hard and tough.

Too bad the books are also filled with a lot of dubious gun porn and plenty of over-blown heavy breathing scenes for those readers who prefer to read their paperbacks one-handed.

Also more than a few truly offensive rape scenes, although I’m not sure who those were for.

INCEL, maybe?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Richard Reinsmith wrote a ton of books, in various genres, under various pen names. He’s probably best known for The Bodyguard series, but he also wrote science fiction, romance, adventure and crime novels. Highlights include Tarzan and the Tower of Diamonds (1985) and The Five and Dime Murders (1981), there latter boasting the blurb: “During the war he was paid to kill — now he did it for pleasure.”

UNDER OATH

  • “The vibe is very much of a hard-boiled tale from decades before, other than the sometimes-raunchy dialog and the rape stuff. Even the beatings Ray endures comes off like a hard-boiled yarn; at one point he’s even run over by a car, but literally walks it off. ”
    — Glorious Trash on The Blonde Target
  • “Here’s the bottom line: Don’t special order this paperback  from afar. Don’t buy a copy encased in plastic from a fine books dealer. Don’t choose this paperback for your monthly book club selection with your fancy friends. However, if you find a copy at a yard sale for a buck or less and you want a big-font, non-challenging read, you’ll probably enjoy The Model Body just fine.
    — Paperback Warrior on The Model Body

NOVELS

FURTHER INVESTIGATION

Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.

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