Bulldog Drummond (Crime Classics)

In the first of the Bulldog Drummond stories, the wealthy former WWI officer looks for adventure as a private detective "Demobilized officer, finding peace incredibly tedious, would welcome diversion. Legitimate, if possible; but crime, if of a comparatively humorous description, no objection. Excitement essential . . . Reply at once Box X10." When the formidable Captain Hugh "Bulldog" Drummond places this newspaper advertisement, hungry for adventure after the end of World War I, he embarks on a career as the invincible guardian of his country. His first reply comes from a beautiful young woman who sends him to investigate what at first looks like blackmail, but turns out to be far more complicated and dangerous. The rescue of a kidnapped millionaire, later found with his thumbs horribly mangled, leads Drummond to uncover a political conspiracy of awesome scope and villainy, masterminded by the ruthless Carl Peterson. Originally published in 1920, Bulldog Drummond set the standard: as Ian Fleming himself confessed, James Bond was Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer from the waist down, but Bulldog Drummond from the waist up.