THE ROMANOFF JEWELS

I finished reading THE ROMANOFF JEWELS, a Shadow pulp novel from 1932, the other evening. As usual when reading a Shadow yarn, I read the entire book aloud to my lovely wife Judy so we could enjoy the adventure together.

And yes, that's the paperback reprint pictured above that I read. Pyramid books reprinted several Shadow pulps in the 1970s and they all featured terrific cover paintings by the great Jim Steranko. He really captured the mood, atmosphere and action of the Shadow stories.

THE ROMANOFF JEWELS involves the Shadow in his first case of international intrigue and pursuit. Two warring factions vie for possession of the famed Romanoff jewels, an incredible treasure trove that once belonged to the Russian czars. One party is loyal to the deposed monarchy and strives to prevent the jewels from being stolen. Their adversary is a ruthless Bolshevik and his gang, men who give their lives in service of the new Russian dictatorial regime. The Shadow may be in the middle of this conflict but he's always a step ahead of his adversaries.

This is a fast moving tale that starts in New York City then moves to Moscow, Paris, a transatlantic ocean liner and finally back to NYC. The body count is high, there's a nice twist ending that I didn't see coming and a very little bit of information is gleaned about the Shadow's origin.

THE ROMANOFF JEWELS may be an eighty-one-year old pulp novel but it's a corker. Thumbs up!