The Christopher Marlowe Cobb Thrillers Series
3.5/5
()
About this series
Autumn 1915. World War I is raging across Europe, but Woodrow Wilson has kept Americans out of the trenches—though that hasn’t stopped young men and women from crossing the Atlantic to volunteer at the front. Christopher “Kit” Cobb, a Chicago reporter with a second job as undercover agent for the U.S. government, is officially in Paris doing a story on American ambulance drivers, but his intelligence handler, James Polk Trask, soon broadens his mission. City-dwelling civilians are meeting death by dynamite in a new string of bombings, and the German-speaking Kit seems just the man to figure out who is behind them—possibly a German operative who has snuck in with the waves of refugees coming in from the provinces and across the border in Belgium. But there are elements in this pursuit that will test Kit Cobb, in all his roles, to the very limits of his principles, wits, and talents for survival.
With Paris in the Dark, Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Olen Butler returns to his lauded Christopher Marlowe Cobb series and proves once again that he can craft “a ripping good yarn” (Wall Street Journal) with unmistakably literary underpinnings and a rich sense of the political and cultural atmosphere of the time.
“Best is Butler's feel for the black-and-white-movie atmospherics of a war zone after hours: It's a thrill to follow Kit to German hangouts like Le Rouge et le Noir, where a password will get you in, but there’s no guarantee you'll get out.”―Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review
Titles in the series (4)
- The Star of Istanbul
An intrepid reporter boards the Lusitania in a “vivid . . . ripping good” spy thriller from the Pulitzer Prize–winning author (The Wall Street Journal). It’s 1915, World War I is in full swing, and foreign correspondent Christopher “Kit” Marlowe Cobb is tasked with following a German intellectual and possible secret service agent who’s just boarded the British ocean liner Lusitania. But Cobb is soon distracted from his mission by the sultry Selene Bourgani, a world-renowned silent film star who also appears to be working with German Intelligence. The secrets Selene harbors have the potential to set the whole international conflict further aflame—and they’re about to be ignited by a German U-boat attack off the Irish coast. From the perilous waters of the Atlantic, Cobb tails Selene into London’s darkest alleyways, then on to the powder keg that is Istanbul. Across the war-torn stages of Europe and the Middle East, Cobb must venture deep behind enemy lines, knowing full well he may not return. The second book in the Christopher Marlowe Cobb Thrillers, The Star of Istanbul “has it all: history galore, exotic foreign settings, a world-weary yet engaging protagonist, villains in abundance and a romance worthy of Bogart and Bergman” (BookPage). “[An] outstanding work of historical fiction.” —The Huntington News “Butler . . . holds the reader transfixed, like a kid at a Saturday matinee.” —Booklist, starred review “An exciting thriller with plenty of action, romance, and danger . . . [a] fast-paced journey through a world at war.” —Library Journal
- The Hot Country
A US war correspondent is plunged into the Mexican civil war in “a whip-smart tale of intrigue and espionage” by the Pulitzer Prize winner (CNN.com). Undaunted by enemy territory and sweltering heat, American journalist Christopher “Kit” Marlowe Cobb has arrived in Mexico in the spring of 1914. The country is rocked by civil war, the American invasion of Vera Cruz, and the controversial presidency of Victoriano Huerta, El Chacal (The Jackal). Marlowe thinks he’s found his first big headline in the attempted assassination of a priest—the bullet miraculously rebounding off the holy man’s cross. Employing a young pickpocket to help him identify the sniper, Cobb is soon led into a far more dangerous story: German officials, with ammunition ships docked in the port, are showing up in the city. When Cobb falls for a young Mexican laundress, he believes he’s found a soft respite from hard news. If only she were as innocent as she seems. A sweeping saga of espionage, action, and romance set at the dawn of World War I, Robert Olen Butler kick-starts his rousing series with “a thinking person’s thriller, the kind of exotic adventure that, in better days, would have been filmed by Sam Peckinpah” (TheWashington Post). “Pancho Villa, fiery senoritas, and Germans up to no good—Robert Olen Butler is having fun . . . and readers will too.” —Joseph Kanon, New York Times–bestselling author of The Good German “[A] high-spirited adventure.” —The New York Times Book Review “Going off to war with Kit Cobb is as bracing and fun as it used to be in George MacDonald Fraser’s Flashman books, or in Perez-Reverte’s Captain Alatriste novels.” —Dan Fesperman, Hammett Prize–winning author of The Double Game
- The Empire of Night
“A cracking good spy thriller, with a cast of memorable characters and a terrifically suspenseful plot . . . Butler’s elegant writing elevates the book.” —Tampa Bay Times In the first two books of his acclaimed Christopher Marlowe Cobb series, The Hot Country and The Star of Istanbul, Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Olen Butler captured the hearts of historical crime fiction fans with the artfulness of his World War I settings and his charismatic leading man, a Chicago journalist recruited by American intelligence. In The Empire of Night, it is 1915, and President Woodrow Wilson is still assessing the war’s threat to the United States. After proving himself during the Lusitania mission, Kit is now a full-blown spy, working undercover in a castle on the Kentish coast owned by a suspected British government mole named Sir Albert Stockman. And Kit is again thrown together with a female spy—his own mother, the beautiful and mercurial Isabel Cobb, who also happens to be a world-famous stage actress. Starring in a touring production of Hamlet, Isabel’s offstage role is to keep tabs on the supposed mole, an ardent fan of hers, while Kit tries to figure out Stockman’s secret agenda. Following his mother and her escort from the relative safety of Britain into the lion’s den of Berlin, Kit must remain in character, even under the very nose of the Kaiser. “[A] thrilling historical series . . . There’s something almost magical about the way the author re-creates this 1915 milieu.” —The Wall Street Journal
- Paris in the Dark
A novel of murder and espionage during the First World War: “Rich atmosphere and a propulsive plot...a satisfying, stylish thrill.”―The Tampa Bay Times Autumn 1915. World War I is raging across Europe, but Woodrow Wilson has kept Americans out of the trenches—though that hasn’t stopped young men and women from crossing the Atlantic to volunteer at the front. Christopher “Kit” Cobb, a Chicago reporter with a second job as undercover agent for the U.S. government, is officially in Paris doing a story on American ambulance drivers, but his intelligence handler, James Polk Trask, soon broadens his mission. City-dwelling civilians are meeting death by dynamite in a new string of bombings, and the German-speaking Kit seems just the man to figure out who is behind them—possibly a German operative who has snuck in with the waves of refugees coming in from the provinces and across the border in Belgium. But there are elements in this pursuit that will test Kit Cobb, in all his roles, to the very limits of his principles, wits, and talents for survival. With Paris in the Dark, Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Olen Butler returns to his lauded Christopher Marlowe Cobb series and proves once again that he can craft “a ripping good yarn” (Wall Street Journal) with unmistakably literary underpinnings and a rich sense of the political and cultural atmosphere of the time. “Best is Butler's feel for the black-and-white-movie atmospherics of a war zone after hours: It's a thrill to follow Kit to German hangouts like Le Rouge et le Noir, where a password will get you in, but there’s no guarantee you'll get out.”―Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review
Robert Olen Butler
Robert Olen Butler is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of sixteen novels and six volumes of short fiction. He has twice won a National Magazine Award in Fiction and received the 2013 F. Scott Fitzgerald Award for American Literature. He teaches creative writing at Florida State University.
Read more from Robert Olen Butler
A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hell: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5From Where You Dream: The Process of Writing Fiction Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mr. Spaceman Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Late City: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A Small Hotel: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tabloid Dreams: Stories Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Deep Green Sea Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHad a Good Time: Stories from American Postcards Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Perfume River: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fair Warning: A Novel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to The Christopher Marlowe Cobb Thrillers
Related ebooks
Ruth & Freddy #0 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIs God In Your Yard? Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Galactic Traveler: The Story of Enoch Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBatty: The Adventures of Boomer and Matilda Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFemale Force: RuPaul Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJourney to the Moon Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRock and Roll Comics: Elvis Presley Experience Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Muse #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTony & Cleo: Beginnings Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGlobo Arte July 2022 Issue Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLegend of Isis: Darkness Falls Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLogan's Run: Aftermath #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFlying Saucers Vs. the Earth #3 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOn the Way Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBlackbeard Legacy #0 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings15 Minutes: Kim Kardashian Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFAME: Psy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPolitical Power: Portrait Gallery Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Adventures of Eli and Jake Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMessages from the Heart of Love - Spirituality Basics in 144 Empowering Quotes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOrbit: Jack Kirby: Co-Creator of Captain America to X-Men Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Forgotten Spoon Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsVincent Price Presents: Tales from the Darkness #2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsglobo arte october issue 2021 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhen Reindeer Learned to Fly Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsVincent Price Presents #06 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMy Alabaster Box...: Poetry, Prose, and Prayer Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBlessed Days, Volume 6: Blessed Days, #6 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsVincent Price Presents #04 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Art of Southwest Landscaping Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Thrillers For You
Fairy Tale Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sympathizer: A Novel (Pulitzer Prize for Fiction) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pretty Girls: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Perfect Marriage: A Completely Gripping Psychological Suspense Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Paris Apartment: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Family Upstairs: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Flight: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Maidens: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Animal Farm Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Finn Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Little Secrets: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The It Girl Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Good Daughter: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5We Have Always Lived in the Castle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Housemaid Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Institute: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Needful Things Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Different Seasons Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Whisper Man: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Revival: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Troop Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Huntress: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Shantaram: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Billy Summers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Eyes of the Dragon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dry: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I'm Thinking of Ending Things: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for The Christopher Marlowe Cobb Thrillers
43 ratings0 reviews