John Flagg’s thriller Murder in Monaco debuted in this Gold Medal edition in 1957, with cover art by Robert Peak, someone better known for producing notable posters for movies such as My Fair Lady, Lord Jim, and Apocalypse Now. We’ve shared his art for the more obscure films Sphinx and Modesty Blaise. This is the first we’ve seen of him on a paperback. The style is minimalist, but the quality is clear. We also shared a Red Seal edition of this book with nearly—but not exactly—identical cover art, though still attributed to Peak. It was part of this group.
Murder in Monaco brings back Woman of Cairo‘s Hart Muldoon, who’s asked by the editor of a tabloid called National Alert to find stolen letters written by the publisher. The tabloid is based in the U.S. but is doing a feature on the French Riviera jet set. When the mag’s publisher turns up dead via ingestion of a cyanide capsule, Muldoon makes a fateful decision to hide the body and is therefore up to his eyebrows in potential trouble.
Despite visiting every place of importance in the South of France, from Saint-Tropez to the microstate of Monaco, and putting together a cast of unusual characters, the book feels perfunctory, which is perhaps not a surprise, as this was Flagg’s third outing with Muldoon. It takes a higher level of skill to keep franchise characters fresh. But is Murder in Monaco readable? Sure. If you decide to read it as a standalone you’ll suspect you’re missing information about Muldoon from earlier books, but it’s fine, overall.
