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Stone Angel #0
The Dark Goddess
When a man enters the inner circle of government service, a whole new world is opened up to him, a world of awesome power—and of absolute vulnerability.
So learns Alexander Rhalles, Nobel Prize-winning historian and foreign affairs adviser to the President, when his wife is kidnapped by the KGB. His choices: committing treason by passing on transcripts of his meetings with the President or condemning his wife to a terrible death.
Rhalles knew that there was only one man who might be able to end his nightmare and save Moira’s life—her former lover Peter Sawyer, a corporate investigator whose work in industrial espionage required tactics as sophisticated—and as ruthless—as the KGB’s…or the CIA’s….
So learns Alexander Rhalles, Nobel Prize-winning historian and foreign affairs adviser to the President, when his wife is kidnapped by the KGB. His choices: committing treason by passing on transcripts of his meetings with the President or condemning his wife to a terrible death.
Rhalles knew that there was only one man who might be able to end his nightmare and save Moira’s life—her former lover Peter Sawyer, a corporate investigator whose work in industrial espionage required tactics as sophisticated—and as ruthless—as the KGB’s…or the CIA’s….
- GenresMystery
423 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1975
About the author
Marvin H. Albert
123 books20 followersAlso wrote under the names Mike Barone, Albert Conroy, Ian MacAlister, Nick Quarry, Anthony Rome, Al Conroy, Marvin Albert
"Marvin H. Albert, the author of more than 100 westerns, mysteries, spy novels and works of history, died on March 24 in Menton, in the south of France. He was 73 and lived in Mont Segur-sur-Lauzon.
The cause was a heart attack, said his daughter, Jan.
Mr. Albert was born in Philadelphia and served as a radio officer in the Merchant Marine during World War II. After working as the director of a children's theater troupe in Philadelphia, he moved to New York in 1950 and began writing and editing for the magazines Quick and Look. He turned to writing full time after the success of his novel "The Law and Jake Wade" (1956).
In addition to popular westerns, mysteries and novelizations of Hollywood films, he wrote "The Long White Road," a biography of the Arctic explorer Ernest Shackleton, "Broadsides and Boarders," a history of great sea captains, and "The Divorce," about Henry VIII. He wrote novels under his own name and under the pseudonyms Albert Conroy, Al Conroy, Nick Quarry, Anthony Rome, Ian MacAlister and J. D. Christilian."
By WILLIAM GRIMES
"Marvin H. Albert, the author of more than 100 westerns, mysteries, spy novels and works of history, died on March 24 in Menton, in the south of France. He was 73 and lived in Mont Segur-sur-Lauzon.
The cause was a heart attack, said his daughter, Jan.
Mr. Albert was born in Philadelphia and served as a radio officer in the Merchant Marine during World War II. After working as the director of a children's theater troupe in Philadelphia, he moved to New York in 1950 and began writing and editing for the magazines Quick and Look. He turned to writing full time after the success of his novel "The Law and Jake Wade" (1956).
In addition to popular westerns, mysteries and novelizations of Hollywood films, he wrote "The Long White Road," a biography of the Arctic explorer Ernest Shackleton, "Broadsides and Boarders," a history of great sea captains, and "The Divorce," about Henry VIII. He wrote novels under his own name and under the pseudonyms Albert Conroy, Al Conroy, Nick Quarry, Anthony Rome, Ian MacAlister and J. D. Christilian."
By WILLIAM GRIMES
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 3, 2026
Marvin H. Albert was an upper midtier author thoughout his career. He started out with hardboiled mysteries and westerns, creating Tony Rome and Shogun Slade. When that style of book went out of fashion, he wrote adjacent genres, writing like Alistair MacLean, and here, like Robert Ludlum.
When a presidential adviser's wife is kidnapped, he's forced to call in her former lover, PI Pete Sawyer to rescue her. It all goes down to the discovery of an ancient idol at an archaeological dig: The Dark Goddess.
Very exciting in that seventies sort of way. Pete Sawyer would get his own series in the 1980's when hard boiled fiction came back into fashion.
When a presidential adviser's wife is kidnapped, he's forced to call in her former lover, PI Pete Sawyer to rescue her. It all goes down to the discovery of an ancient idol at an archaeological dig: The Dark Goddess.
Very exciting in that seventies sort of way. Pete Sawyer would get his own series in the 1980's when hard boiled fiction came back into fashion.
February 2, 2021
I have no idea how this book came to be in my bookcase, but that's where I found it, and it's been the perfect thing, lately. European Noir. I imagine that the book is semi-autobiographical and somewhat personal fantasy. Who the author might have been.
It's charming, and the story is a pretty classic kidnapping plot without any big surprises. And, that's fine. Sometimes knowing what you're getting is nice. It's reassuring.
I like the woman characters in this book. Albert manages to write them like people, and they're no more skilled, well resourced, or attractive than the men in the novel, though they are often all of those things.
It's charming, and the story is a pretty classic kidnapping plot without any big surprises. And, that's fine. Sometimes knowing what you're getting is nice. It's reassuring.
I like the woman characters in this book. Albert manages to write them like people, and they're no more skilled, well resourced, or attractive than the men in the novel, though they are often all of those things.
November 13, 2021
Espionage thriller set during the Cold War.
November 7, 2013
Decent spy thriller. Cerebral; not a lot of guns and killing.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews