The Mystery of the Sea Horse

The Story of the Phantom #7

by Lee Falk

A palatial 200 foot yacht, 'The Sea Horse,' a luxurious private island guarded by fierce dogs, all the property of the suave and charming Chris Danton. What is the source of his seemingly inexhaustible wealth? What is the grim secret behind the 'ageless' smile of the master of The Sea Horse? The Phantom's sweetheart, beautiful Diana Palmer, innocently stumbles into Danton's web and finds herself caught up in an evil conspiracy from which she can be saved only by the power and ingenuity of the Phantom, The Ghost Who Walks.

Genres: Fiction, Comics, Mystery, Adventure

159 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published August 1, 1973

About the author

Lee Falk, born Leon Harrison Gross (April 28, 1911 - March 13, 1999), was an American writer, theater director and producer, best known as the creator of the popular comic strips The Phantom and Mandrake the Magician. At the height of their popularity, these strips attracted over 100 million readers every day. Falk also wrote short stories, and he contributed to a series of pulp novels about The Phantom

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the seventh volume in Avon's series of Phantom prose novels from the 1970s. The story was adapted by Ron Goulart under the pseudonym of Frank S. Shawn from Lee Falk's comic strip script. The Phantom was an iconic hero in the newspapers, and the current Phantom is the 21st of the line. His sweetheart Diana Palmer frequently runs afoul of evildoers and needs to be rescued, as females were wont to do in those days. The Sea Horse is a yacht owned by the mysterious Chris Danton, who owns his own island, guarded by fierce dogs. It starts out as a standard smuggling investigation, but Kit finds some unusual bumps in the path to rescuing Diana and bringing the evildoers to justice. Goulart's style brought an unusual flavor of humor to Falk's story, which was fun and refreshing.

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one of the better stories. I was impressed by the complexity of the story. Not that it was hard to follow, but the villain had an unexpected twist. We knew the villain was a drug smuggler, but we come to find out he's a Nazi that has gone into hiding. He's also being pursued by an assassin, who knows he's a Nazi, which just makes things harder for everyone involved. The assassin doesn't care who he has to kill to get to his target, which puts the Phantom and Diana in his crosshairs.

These novels really do read like men's adventure novels of the 70s, which I suppose they are, but considering the novels are based on stories directly from the comic strip it is a little surprising.

[Terry Mulcahy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another fun read. Lots of standard plot elements. An evil villain. Diana gets kidnapped twice. Haha: "... her hair brushed her bare shoulder as she turned her head." We do know why Diana is in the story. But, sheesh, they haven't seen each other in a long time, and won't for some time after this, and both are in danger, yet they rent separate bungalows while they're in Mexico, even though the Phantom leaves her alone while he goes off investigating? Come on.

[Shawn Deal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderfully pulpy. These books are fabulous.

[Timo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ei Mustanaamio suuria suosikkejani ole, mutta ilokseen tämän luki.

[Glen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book about the Phantom's pursuit of a smuggler who turns out to be far, far, more.