071 01/36 Murder Mirage
A blizzard in July and a woman’s image is frozen in glass — how could these bizarre events possibly be connected? To find the answer and save the life of Ranyon Cartheris, the Man of Bronze and his dauntless allies journey to hot desert sands halfway round the world, where they are trapped — perhaps never to emerge — in the ancient underground tombs of Tasunan.
I liked this one. The woman in glass was darn cool!! Good action throughout. A daring escape from a burning dirigible, Pat kidnaped too many times to count, pursuits down dark tunnels, a new, weird element, exotic locales… Doc at his best if you ask me.
My favorite of the Donovan Docs and probably his most Dent-like. Those eerie opening scens are incredibly evocative and frightening. Had Donovan continued on this way he might have been one of the great Doc writers.
I agree with the other posted comments. A good novel, one of Donovan’s better efforts. I also like the Pfeiffer cover quite a lot, though I could have wished for more detail in the face of the guy with the lantern. The pulp cover is fantastic. This is one of the ghosted Doc novels that stands up to multiple reads (I think Land of Long Juju holds up as well).
As a confirmed Donovan hater, I was shocked at how good “Murder Mirage” was. The plot was solid and coherent, the action was brisk and exciting and I actually guessed wrong about the identity of the All-Wise One. Of his many wretched entries into the Doc canon, this was Donovan’s one winner. Bully for him.
This one was perhaps the fourth or fifth Doc I ever read, 36 years ago — and I still remember it! Unlike the majority of the readers on this site, I quite enjoy Donovan/Danberg’s Doc yarns; in fact, the first Donovan I ever read, the year before I read MIRAGE, The Men Who Smiled No More, has my vote as one of the top-5 Doc’s AND the top vote as the best Bama Bantam cover! Actually, I’m on a bit of a high this morning – yesterday I visited one of my favourite second-hand bookshops to discover that the owner had aquired a box-lot of Doc Savage novels… a series he has never carried before! And I’m on holiday at the moment, so….