The Widow Kate in this story is not some old, wrinkly woman as Slocum first suspects when he takes the job of escorting her, sight unseen. She winds up having to use her wiles to “distract” him to keep secret the real purpose of Slocum’s employment.
Someone once told me that they thought that Martin Cruz Smith, well-known author of “Gorky Park” had written this one but they couldn’t be 100% certain.
My guess is that the Playboy Press editors were showing a sense of humor and that the blurb writer, David King (real name Howard Pehrson) was the book writer as well. Pehrson is supposed to have written the first Slocum, I know.
ReplyDeleteHoward and his wife Harriet were lovely people. My daughter and I lived next door to them on N. Willamette in North Portland in the mid 1980's. I considered him my mentor although I am a painter.
ReplyDeleteHoward was a ghost writer.
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