Istanbul (Killmaster novel)
Encyclopedia
Istanbul is the tenth novel
in the long-running Nick Carter-Killmaster
series of spy novels. Carter is a US secret agent, code-named N-3, with the rank of Killmaster. He works for AXE – a secret arm of the US intelligence services.
Inc. The novel was written by Manning Lee Stokes.
(FBN) agents have been murdered in Turkey
. Carter attends a secret meeting in which a top US Government official orders him to assassinate four individuals believed to be involved in protecting an international heroin processing and distribution network based in Turkey. Carter accepts the mission and makes his way to Istanbul
posing as a crewman on a cargo freighter.
Carter makes contact with fellow AXE agent Charles “Mousy” Morgan stationed in Istanbul
. Mija Gialellis, a former heroin addict, is being held in AXE custody in order to provide information on how to penetrate the opium
smuggling syndicate. Morgan tracks Maurice Defarge – one of the four assassination targets – to the Le Cinema Bleu where he is known to the owner Leslie Standish. Carter and Morgan visit Le Cinema Bleu intending to seize Standish and interrogate her at AXE’s Istanbul office. They observe Marion Talbot, Defarge’s secretary, enter the club’s back office. Carter follows and finds Standish dead in her office – her throat cut in the same way as the murdered FBN agents. A peculiar smell – acetone – fills the air. Carter encounters and fights Johnny Ruthless – one of the other assassination targets – but cannot capture or kill him. A few minutes later, Carter finds Morgan outside the club with his throat cut.
Now undercover, Carter and Mija take a room in a hotel overlooking Defarge’s business headquarters. Carter breaks in at night and confronts the obese Defarge. The shock of the encounter induces a heart attack in Defarge and Carter extracts the date and route of the next opium shipment before leaving Defarge to expire apparently from natural causes. Carter further learns that the Turkish syndicate has sold the opium processing equipment to communist Chinese interests for 10 million Turkish pounds (then about USD 1 million) (about USD 7.8 million in 2011). Again Carter smells acetone.
Carter and Mija are parachuted into Urfa (Sanliurfa
, Edessa, Mesopotamia
) close to the border with Syria
to intercept the opium caravan and kill the second target, Gonzalez. The caravan is protected by 100 Kurdish tribesmen. Carter poses as a Kurd
to infiltrate the caravan but is exposed and captured. He manages to escape and lies in wait for Gonzalez as he crosses a river separating Turkey from Syria. As the caravan approaches Carter sets off Tiny Tim – a small atomic grenade. A badly injured Gonzalez survives. He shows Carter a bag containing Mija’s severed head – cut off by the Kurdish bodyguards. Carter strangles Gonzalez. Carter passes out from his injuries and awakes in the sanatorium of Dr Joseph Six – former Nazi doctor who experimented on prisoners in extermination camps.
Dr Six gives Carter a fatal dose of morphine
and leaves him alone to die. Carter vomits up the morphine and dives out the hospital window into the Bosphorus. Carter immediately returns to the sanatorium and kills Dr Six and his cronies with Pierre – the poison gas bomb. Carter leaves the sanatorium and is picked up on his way back to the city center by Tessa Travis – apparently a bored and lonely businessman’s wife – who takes him back to her villa.
In the bathroom, Carter finds acetone nail polish remover – the distinctive smell of which he recalled from the Le Cinema Bleu and Defarge’s office. Carter realizes that Tessa Travis is Marion Talbot and Johnny Ruthless – responsible for the murders of the FBN agents, Leslie Standish and “Mousy” Morgan. Travis is a communist agent acting for China
and has arranged the takeover of the opium syndicate killing everyone who gets in her way. She pulls a knife on Carter and they struggle. She falls on the blade and dies. Carter has eliminated all four targets. He recuperates in Turkey before returning to the USA.
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
in the long-running Nick Carter-Killmaster
Nick Carter-Killmaster
Nick Carter-Killmaster is a series of spy adventures published from 1964 until the late 1990s, first by Award Books, then by Ace Books, and finally by Jove Books. At least 261 novels were published....
series of spy novels. Carter is a US secret agent, code-named N-3, with the rank of Killmaster. He works for AXE – a secret arm of the US intelligence services.
Publishing history
The book was first published in October 1965 (Number A157F) by Award Books part of the Beacon-Signal division of Universal Publishing and Distributing Corporation (New York, USA), part of the Conde Nast PublicationsCondé Nast Publications
Condé Nast, a division of Advance Publications, is a magazine publisher. In the U.S., it produces 18 consumer magazines, including Architectural Digest, Bon Appétit, GQ, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, and Vogue, as well as four business-to-business publications, 27 websites, and more than 50 apps...
Inc. The novel was written by Manning Lee Stokes.
Plot summary
The story is set in May 1965. Several Federal Bureau of NarcoticsFederal Bureau of Narcotics
The Federal Bureau of Narcotics was an agency of the United States Department of the Treasury. Established in the Department of the Treasury by an act of June 14, 1930 consolidating the functions of the Federal Narcotics Control Board and the Narcotic Division...
(FBN) agents have been murdered in Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
. Carter attends a secret meeting in which a top US Government official orders him to assassinate four individuals believed to be involved in protecting an international heroin processing and distribution network based in Turkey. Carter accepts the mission and makes his way to Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
posing as a crewman on a cargo freighter.
Carter makes contact with fellow AXE agent Charles “Mousy” Morgan stationed in Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
. Mija Gialellis, a former heroin addict, is being held in AXE custody in order to provide information on how to penetrate the opium
Opium
Opium is the dried latex obtained from the opium poppy . Opium contains up to 12% morphine, an alkaloid, which is frequently processed chemically to produce heroin for the illegal drug trade. The latex also includes codeine and non-narcotic alkaloids such as papaverine, thebaine and noscapine...
smuggling syndicate. Morgan tracks Maurice Defarge – one of the four assassination targets – to the Le Cinema Bleu where he is known to the owner Leslie Standish. Carter and Morgan visit Le Cinema Bleu intending to seize Standish and interrogate her at AXE’s Istanbul office. They observe Marion Talbot, Defarge’s secretary, enter the club’s back office. Carter follows and finds Standish dead in her office – her throat cut in the same way as the murdered FBN agents. A peculiar smell – acetone – fills the air. Carter encounters and fights Johnny Ruthless – one of the other assassination targets – but cannot capture or kill him. A few minutes later, Carter finds Morgan outside the club with his throat cut.
Now undercover, Carter and Mija take a room in a hotel overlooking Defarge’s business headquarters. Carter breaks in at night and confronts the obese Defarge. The shock of the encounter induces a heart attack in Defarge and Carter extracts the date and route of the next opium shipment before leaving Defarge to expire apparently from natural causes. Carter further learns that the Turkish syndicate has sold the opium processing equipment to communist Chinese interests for 10 million Turkish pounds (then about USD 1 million) (about USD 7.8 million in 2011). Again Carter smells acetone.
Carter and Mija are parachuted into Urfa (Sanliurfa
Sanliurfa
Şanlıurfa, , often simply known as Urfa in daily language , in ancient times Edessa, is a city with 482,323 inhabitants Şanlıurfa, , often simply known as Urfa in daily language (Syriac ܐܘܪܗܝ Urhoy,Armenian Ուռհա Owr'ha, Arabic الرها ar-Ruhā), in ancient times Edessa, is a city with 482,323...
, Edessa, Mesopotamia
Edessa, Mesopotamia
Edessa is the Greek name of an Aramaic town in northern Mesopotamia, as refounded by Seleucus I Nicator. For the modern history of the city, see Şanlıurfa.-Names:...
) close to the border with Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
to intercept the opium caravan and kill the second target, Gonzalez. The caravan is protected by 100 Kurdish tribesmen. Carter poses as a Kurd
Kürd
Kürd or Kyurd or Kyurt may refer to:*Kürd Eldarbəyli, Azerbaijan*Kürd Mahrızlı, Azerbaijan*Kürd, Goychay, Azerbaijan*Kürd, Jalilabad, Azerbaijan*Kürd, Qabala, Azerbaijan*Qurdbayram, Azerbaijan...
to infiltrate the caravan but is exposed and captured. He manages to escape and lies in wait for Gonzalez as he crosses a river separating Turkey from Syria. As the caravan approaches Carter sets off Tiny Tim – a small atomic grenade. A badly injured Gonzalez survives. He shows Carter a bag containing Mija’s severed head – cut off by the Kurdish bodyguards. Carter strangles Gonzalez. Carter passes out from his injuries and awakes in the sanatorium of Dr Joseph Six – former Nazi doctor who experimented on prisoners in extermination camps.
Dr Six gives Carter a fatal dose of morphine
Morphine
Morphine is a potent opiate analgesic medication and is considered to be the prototypical opioid. It was first isolated in 1804 by Friedrich Sertürner, first distributed by same in 1817, and first commercially sold by Merck in 1827, which at the time was a single small chemists' shop. It was more...
and leaves him alone to die. Carter vomits up the morphine and dives out the hospital window into the Bosphorus. Carter immediately returns to the sanatorium and kills Dr Six and his cronies with Pierre – the poison gas bomb. Carter leaves the sanatorium and is picked up on his way back to the city center by Tessa Travis – apparently a bored and lonely businessman’s wife – who takes him back to her villa.
In the bathroom, Carter finds acetone nail polish remover – the distinctive smell of which he recalled from the Le Cinema Bleu and Defarge’s office. Carter realizes that Tessa Travis is Marion Talbot and Johnny Ruthless – responsible for the murders of the FBN agents, Leslie Standish and “Mousy” Morgan. Travis is a communist agent acting for China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
and has arranged the takeover of the opium syndicate killing everyone who gets in her way. She pulls a knife on Carter and they struggle. She falls on the blade and dies. Carter has eliminated all four targets. He recuperates in Turkey before returning to the USA.
Main characters
- Nick Carter (agent N-3, AXE; posing as Thomas J. Norris, Grover Stout, John R Thomson)
- Mr Hawk (Carter’s boss, head of AXE)
- Maurice Defarge (opium syndicate member)
- Carlos Gonzalez (opium syndicate member
- Dr. Joseph Six (former Nazi extermination camp doctor; opium syndicate member)
- Johnny Ruthless (aka Marion Talbot – Defarge's secretary; Tessa Travis; opium syndicate member)
- Charles “Mousy” Morgan (AXE Istanbul section leader)
- Mija Gialellis
Trivia
- The novel refers to the murder of several Federal Bureau of NarcoticsFederal Bureau of NarcoticsThe Federal Bureau of Narcotics was an agency of the United States Department of the Treasury. Established in the Department of the Treasury by an act of June 14, 1930 consolidating the functions of the Federal Narcotics Control Board and the Narcotic Division...
(FBN) agents. The FBN established field offices in Turkey (and other nations) in an attempt to control the smuggling of opium and heroin into the US. FBN was incorporated into the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous DrugsBureau of Narcotics and Dangerous DrugsThe Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs was a predecessor agency of the Drug Enforcement Administration . It was formed as a subsidiary of the United States Department of Justice in 1968, combining the Bureau of Narcotics and Bureau of Drug Abuse Control The Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous...
in 1968. - The novel refers to the “second Bandung conference" being held soon. Originally scheduled for March 1965, the Second Asian-African Conference was postponed to June 1965 and further re-scheduled to November 1965. This places the events of the novel to May 1965. This story thus precedes the events described in the previous novel in the series “The Eyes of the Tiger” (which occur in September 1965).
- The first edition (October 1965) indicates that Nick Carter movies are in production (“Watch for the first of the dazzling Nick Carter motion pictures.”) In November 1965, the movie “Nick Carter et le trèfle rouge” (Nick Carter and Red Club) starring Eddie ConstantineEddie ConstantineEddie Constantine was an American-born French actor and singer who spent his career working in Europe....
as Nick Carter was released in France.
Plot errors
- Carter’s AXE tattoo is stated to be on his left elbow. It was previously stated to be on right elbow, e.g. in Run, Spy, Run
- Nusretiye MosqueNusretiye MosqueNusretiye Mosque is an ornate mosque located in Tophane district of Beyoğlu, Istanbul, Turkey. While its architecture is influenced by Islamic elements, it retains a Baroque style, making it unique to the city. It was built in 1823-1826 by Sultan Mahmut II....
is misspelled Musretiye