Secret Agent X vs. Doctor Death

 It's 1936, just three years prior to World War 2. Franklin D. Roosevelt had just won the presidency in an historic landslide reelection, the Hoover Dam officially reached completion, the Baseball Hall of Fame had just been founded, and it was the year Life magazine debuted. It was also the age of the rise of Masked Men in the U.S. Long before the dawn of the age of Superheroes, Masked Men were on the rise in American Pop Culture literature arising out of the Pulp Noir of the depression era these iconic, fedora-and-trench-coat-wearing vigilantes populated radio serial broadcasts, film, and pulp novels. Characters like The Clock, The Spirit, The Shadow were the heroes of the day.

While these characters have largely faded into the past, authors like Will Murray are doing what they can to keep them alive. William Murray is an American novelist, journalist, short story, and comicbook writer. He has spent years penning stories about Tarzan, Doc Savage, Sherlock Holmes, and H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu among others. And then, in 1991 along with artist Steve Ditko (co-creator of Spider-Man, and Dr. Strange), he co-created the superhero, Squirrel Girl.

His latest novel, Secret Agent X vs. Doctor Death pits one of these Masked Men. Secret Agent X was the title of a U.S. pulp magazine published by A. A. Wyn’s Ace Magazines, as well as the name of the main character featured in the magazine. The magazine ran for 41 issues between February 1934 and March 1939. Doctor Death was also the title of a short-lived pulp magazine from 1935, this one published by Dell Magazines, as well as the name of the magazine’s main character. Unlike Secret Agent X wo was a hero, Doctor Death, as his name implies, was an archcriminal who wanted to return the world to a primitive condition and used supernatural tools such as zombies and magic in his plots against humanity.

    In Murray’s 2026 novel, even though the world believes Doctor Death is deceased, the clinically insane super-scientist and occultist still lives, and is still quite determined to drag civilization back into the Dark Ages utilizing all of his skills in the dark arts of the occult. The reason the world believes Dr. Death to be dead, is that a secret society of select individuals—calling themselves the Secret Twelve—are convinced that they have put him down for the count. Unfortunately, they are not only sadly mistaken but currently disbanded as the novel begins, one of the twelve—Tony Caminetti, a self-styled king of the underworld—turns up dead, seemingly killed by his own hand.

The mystery deepens when, upon investigation by the local police, it becomes clear that first impressions of the apparent suicide weren’t quite as they seemed, and there were unexplained, mysterious elements that added new layers to the events. As the story progresses, we learn that one of the “cops” that were involved was actually Secret Agent X in disguise, and that it was a still alive Dr. Death who was somehow behind Caminetti’s death. Afterwards, other members of the disbanded Secret Twelve, originally organized to defeat Death, also began succumbing to violent, malevolent forces not of this world, and dying horribly. The Authorities suspected that the former Professor Rance Mandarin—Dr. Death—was still alive and was scheming to remake the world in his twisted image.

Fortunately, rising to meet the challenge was the Man of a Thousand Faces, known yet unknown as Secret Agent X. needless to say the man of mystery had never before faced a foe possessing supernatural powers, and as malevolent as Dr. Death, a man who controlled zombies, and other terrifying creatures of the night. To do the job, X recruits a new team of masked men to bring down Death.

If you never read any Pulp Noir fiction you are in for a treat upon reading Murray’s very amazingly purple prose, which so clearly mimics the type of writing from that era you would swear that he is somehow channeling the ghosts of Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Mickey Spillane, and others. Murray’s style is to use very stylized language to weave his very complex and highly descriptive stories. Reading a Will Murray tale is truly a delightful experience, as he has a very unique way with words.

The story crisscrosses in an out of numerous scenarios with a wide array of very colorful characters each with their own unique characteristics, mannerisms, and eccentricities. The story itself intertwines in and out of several exotic scenarios as X and his team track down Dr. Death even as Death himself and his various minions including the haughty Egyptian, temptress Charmion, as well as his zombies, vampire bats, Minotaurs, and other creatures of legend. The story is exceptionally compelling and holds your interest from over to cover, delivering riveting action, layered storytelling, and thrills galore as you wind your way through the intriguing plot.

The book is currently available on Amazon.