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Sumuru #1
The Sins Of Sumuru
WHO WAS SUMURU? It was said that she was an ice-cold, fascinating genius whose hypnotic powers impelled all men to do her bidding. It was said she was a fanatic who ruled her followers with oriental despots. It was said . . . But what was the truth? Nobody really knew although two men knew part of it -- sir Miles Tristram, just returned from Cairo, and Dr. Steel Maitland of the Secret Service. But Tristram died by the hand of a beautiful woman and his secret died with him. That left Maitland alone to follow the trail through Sumuru's shadowy underworld and it almost proved to be a task more than he could handle. In Sins of Sumuru, Sax Rohmer, creator of the famous Fu Manchu novels, has written another masterly story of fear and excitement.
186 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1950
About the author
Sax Rohmer
509 books124 followersAKA Arthur Sarsfield Ward (real name); Michael Furey.
Arthur Henry Sarsfield Ward (15 February 1883 - 1 June 1959), better known as Sax Rohmer, was a prolific English novelist. He is best remembered for his series of novels featuring the master criminal Dr. Fu Manchu.
Born in Birmingham to a working class family, Rohmer initially pursued a career as a civil servant before concentrating on writing full-time.
He worked as a poet, songwriter, and comedy sketch writer in Music Hall before creating the Sax Rohmer persona and pursuing a career writing weird fiction.
Like his contemporaries Algernon Blackwood and Arthur Machen, Rohmer claimed membership to one of the factions of the qabbalistic Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Rohmer also claimed ties to the Rosicrucians, but the validity of his claims has been questioned. His physician and family friend, Dr. R. Watson Councell may have been his only legitimate connection to such organizations. It is believed that Rohmer may have exaggerated his association in order to boost his literary reputation as an occult writer.
His first published work came in 1903, when the short story The Mysterious Mummy was sold to Pearson's Weekly. He gradually transitioned from writing for Music Hall performers to concentrating on short stories and serials for magazine publication. In 1909 he married Rose Elizabeth Knox.
He published his first novel Pause! anonymously in 1910. After penning Little Tich in 1911 (as ghostwriter for the Music Hall entertainer) he issued the first Fu Manchu novel, The Mystery of Dr. Fu-Manchu, was serialized from October 1912 - June 1913. It was an immediate success with its fast-paced story of Denis Nayland Smith and Dr. Petrie facing the worldwide conspiracy of the 'Yellow Peril'. The Fu Manchu stories, together with his more conventional detective series characters—Paul Harley, Gaston Max, Red Kerry, Morris Klaw, and The Crime Magnet—made Rohmer one of the most successful and well-paid authors of the 1920s and 1930s.
Rohmer also wrote several novels of supernatural horror, including Brood of the Witch-Queen. Rohmer was very poor at managing his wealth, however, and made several disastrous business decisions that hampered him throughout his career. His final success came with a series of novels featuring a female variation on Fu Manchu, Sumuru.
After World War II, the Rohmers moved to New York only returning to London shortly before his death. Rohmer died in 1959 due to an outbreak of influenza ("Asian Flu").
There were thirteen books in the Fu Manchu series in all (not counting the posthumous The Wrath of Fu Manchu. The Sumuru series consist of five books.
His wife published her own mystery novel, Bianca in Black in 1954 under the pen name, Elizabeth Sax Rohmer. Some editions of the book mistakenly credit her as Rohmer's daughter. Elizabeth Sax Rohmer and Cay Van Ash, her husband's former assistant, wrote a biography of the author, Master of Villainy, published in 1972.
Arthur Henry Sarsfield Ward (15 February 1883 - 1 June 1959), better known as Sax Rohmer, was a prolific English novelist. He is best remembered for his series of novels featuring the master criminal Dr. Fu Manchu.
Born in Birmingham to a working class family, Rohmer initially pursued a career as a civil servant before concentrating on writing full-time.
He worked as a poet, songwriter, and comedy sketch writer in Music Hall before creating the Sax Rohmer persona and pursuing a career writing weird fiction.
Like his contemporaries Algernon Blackwood and Arthur Machen, Rohmer claimed membership to one of the factions of the qabbalistic Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Rohmer also claimed ties to the Rosicrucians, but the validity of his claims has been questioned. His physician and family friend, Dr. R. Watson Councell may have been his only legitimate connection to such organizations. It is believed that Rohmer may have exaggerated his association in order to boost his literary reputation as an occult writer.
His first published work came in 1903, when the short story The Mysterious Mummy was sold to Pearson's Weekly. He gradually transitioned from writing for Music Hall performers to concentrating on short stories and serials for magazine publication. In 1909 he married Rose Elizabeth Knox.
He published his first novel Pause! anonymously in 1910. After penning Little Tich in 1911 (as ghostwriter for the Music Hall entertainer) he issued the first Fu Manchu novel, The Mystery of Dr. Fu-Manchu, was serialized from October 1912 - June 1913. It was an immediate success with its fast-paced story of Denis Nayland Smith and Dr. Petrie facing the worldwide conspiracy of the 'Yellow Peril'. The Fu Manchu stories, together with his more conventional detective series characters—Paul Harley, Gaston Max, Red Kerry, Morris Klaw, and The Crime Magnet—made Rohmer one of the most successful and well-paid authors of the 1920s and 1930s.
Rohmer also wrote several novels of supernatural horror, including Brood of the Witch-Queen. Rohmer was very poor at managing his wealth, however, and made several disastrous business decisions that hampered him throughout his career. His final success came with a series of novels featuring a female variation on Fu Manchu, Sumuru.
After World War II, the Rohmers moved to New York only returning to London shortly before his death. Rohmer died in 1959 due to an outbreak of influenza ("Asian Flu").
There were thirteen books in the Fu Manchu series in all (not counting the posthumous The Wrath of Fu Manchu. The Sumuru series consist of five books.
His wife published her own mystery novel, Bianca in Black in 1954 under the pen name, Elizabeth Sax Rohmer. Some editions of the book mistakenly credit her as Rohmer's daughter. Elizabeth Sax Rohmer and Cay Van Ash, her husband's former assistant, wrote a biography of the author, Master of Villainy, published in 1972.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
November 10, 2022
Nude in Mink was the first of five novels in Rohmer’s Sumuru series. Best known for his Fu Manchu series, here he offers the reader a female villain, bewitching and hypnotizing, but bent on world domination. Set initially on the fogbound streets of London, agents such as Donovan are in a constant state of confusion as to what is going on and who is safe from the clutches of the Sumuru and her loyal followers.
August 22, 2008
Sax Rohmer is best-known as the creator of Fu Manchu, but he also wrote a series of pot-boilers about another diabolical criminal mastermind, Sumuru. Rohmer’s work is interesting for what it tells us about the bizarre fears of conservatives, fears that haven’t really changed all that much since his time. Paranoia and xenophobia are, alas, as popular as ever. Despite his obsessions and his undeniably (and outrageously) pulpy style, Rohmer remains entertaining and amusing. The very silliness of his fears in fact lends an engaging camp quality to his books. Sumuru is an even more outlandish villain than Fu Manchu, which makes The Sins of Sumuru even more fun! Sumuru is a glamorous, beautiful but sinister female another diabolical criminal mastermind, but her plot go beyond mere crime. She intends to create a New World Order, based on the elimination of war, greed and ugliness. This will be a world order dominated by women. Beautiful women. There will be a place for men, but their role will be strictly subordinate. A conspiracy to abolish war and greed is obviously an appalling threat to civilisation, so clearly she must be stopped. It’s up to American journalist Mark Donovan and Dr Steel Maitland, one-time naval surgeon and now a senior operative of the British government’s most secret intelligence service, to prevent this woman from destroying the very foundations of our civilisation. Donovan must also save the woman he loves from the clutches of Sumuru. She has been recruited as part of Sumuru’s secret army. Sumuru, part from being a criminal genius, is also a master (well, mistress) of disguise. In fact no-one knows what she really looks like, so she could be anyone! It’s all terribly and breathlessly exciting! With lots of exclamation points! It was originally published under the even more gloriously pulpy title of Nude in Mink. Silly fun, but definitely fun.
January 29, 2019
Like any other night in Sax Rohmer's London, the evening begins with the unexpected arrival of a beautiful young woman wearing nothing under her mink coat. That's how Mark Donovan starts his night as the woman shows up on his front door and faints dead away. While he is fetching her some brandy (nature's cure-all) she disappears. Then his friend from the Foreign Office Dr. Steel Maitland shows up and he forgets all about her. Maitland drags him across London and explains that they must stop the most diabolical villain the world has never seen, the Lady Sumuru.
Sumuru runs some sort of international white slavery ring and also dabbles in assassination. Her main goal is to save the world from toxic masculinity and get rid of all the ugly people. She is a master of disguise and is either a master of mesmerism or hypnotic drugs, or both. No one who has ever seen her can describe anything about her except that she is beautiful and entrancing. The police have no idea who she is, no proof that she has committed any crime, but one thing is sure, she will strike again!
It's not really much of a mystery story. Mostly Maitland and Donovan and Scotland Yard stumble about trying to catch Sumuru while she goes about her business and occasionally toys with them. The interesting part is when they come in direct contact with her, and this is where Rohmer demonstrates his descriptive powers, making Sumuru a sultry menace who clearly enjoys taunting these men.
This is basically a Fu Manchu novel with the main villain substituted with Sumuru. As usual Rohmer reuses some of his previous plot points, like the arrival of the naked girl and the Watson of the Holmes and Watson pair instantly falling in love with her. Rohmer's use of language and atmosphere are the main selling points of any of his works.
A paraphrase of my favorite quote in the book: The government was forming a commission to find ways to increase tourism which would involve solving the problems of a)the alcohol licensing difficulty and b)the climate.
Sumuru runs some sort of international white slavery ring and also dabbles in assassination. Her main goal is to save the world from toxic masculinity and get rid of all the ugly people. She is a master of disguise and is either a master of mesmerism or hypnotic drugs, or both. No one who has ever seen her can describe anything about her except that she is beautiful and entrancing. The police have no idea who she is, no proof that she has committed any crime, but one thing is sure, she will strike again!
It's not really much of a mystery story. Mostly Maitland and Donovan and Scotland Yard stumble about trying to catch Sumuru while she goes about her business and occasionally toys with them. The interesting part is when they come in direct contact with her, and this is where Rohmer demonstrates his descriptive powers, making Sumuru a sultry menace who clearly enjoys taunting these men.
This is basically a Fu Manchu novel with the main villain substituted with Sumuru. As usual Rohmer reuses some of his previous plot points, like the arrival of the naked girl and the Watson of the Holmes and Watson pair instantly falling in love with her. Rohmer's use of language and atmosphere are the main selling points of any of his works.
A paraphrase of my favorite quote in the book: The government was forming a commission to find ways to increase tourism which would involve solving the problems of a)the alcohol licensing difficulty and b)the climate.
October 27, 2013
I've been on a mission lately to go back and at least sample some of the early crime/mystery/pulp writers of the 1920s-1950s and so it was that I gave Sax Rohmer a try. Sax Rohmer is known mostly for his oriental criminal mastermind novels of Fu Manchu but I chose to read the first of the "Sumuru" series which consists of five novels. This particular novel was first written as a radio production entitled "The Sins of Sumuru" just after World War II and then was published in 1950 as "Nude in Mink".
I must admit to being happily surprised at how enjoyable I found this novel to be. It's not award winning material by any stretch but it is quite entertaining. Sumuru is a diabolical female mastermind like a character you might find in a James Bond story. She heads up a secret organization known as "The Order of Our Lady" and it's their mission to replace the war-mongering male world leaders with the females who combine beauty and brains. Wow, that's certainly pulpy material and that's exactly what makes it so fun. To achieve her goals she also engages in white slavery and murder for hire but she justifies it, conceding that she is fighting a war of her own and is willing to sacrifice a few to make the big gains. Of course, you have to keep in mind that it was written just after the downfall of Hitler and the world had now entered the era of Stalin.
There are, of course, some good guy characters, including a man from Scotland Yard but they tend towards the cardboard side. But that seems just fine in this style of pulp fiction.
Adding to my reading pleasure was the fact that I actually read this novel in its original 1950 paperback version. I had to be careful when I turned the yellowed pages for fear they would separate from the binding but oh what a feeling that was. Real booklovers out there will understand what I mean…
I must admit to being happily surprised at how enjoyable I found this novel to be. It's not award winning material by any stretch but it is quite entertaining. Sumuru is a diabolical female mastermind like a character you might find in a James Bond story. She heads up a secret organization known as "The Order of Our Lady" and it's their mission to replace the war-mongering male world leaders with the females who combine beauty and brains. Wow, that's certainly pulpy material and that's exactly what makes it so fun. To achieve her goals she also engages in white slavery and murder for hire but she justifies it, conceding that she is fighting a war of her own and is willing to sacrifice a few to make the big gains. Of course, you have to keep in mind that it was written just after the downfall of Hitler and the world had now entered the era of Stalin.
There are, of course, some good guy characters, including a man from Scotland Yard but they tend towards the cardboard side. But that seems just fine in this style of pulp fiction.
Adding to my reading pleasure was the fact that I actually read this novel in its original 1950 paperback version. I had to be careful when I turned the yellowed pages for fear they would separate from the binding but oh what a feeling that was. Real booklovers out there will understand what I mean…
November 29, 2012
This is the first Rohmer I've read that wasn't a Fu Manchu story. It's pretty much the same sort of stuff, except that instead of being a mysterious Oriental villain, Sumuru is a mysterious maybe-Oriental villainess.
I enjoyed it, but for all the wrong reasons. It's a fun adventure, with lots of twists and turns and some fantastic pulpy characters, but I was completely on the side of Sumuru - what she wants is to bring beauty to the world, end wars, and make people happy. This, of course, is a Terrible Threat to the World, so of course she must be stopped. This leads to unintentionally hilarious lines like "Stop wars? That's more of a threat to world peace than those men in the Kremlin!" Seriously, Mr Ward, did you actually read what you wrote there?
Sumuru's a fun character, who just oozes the sort of sexuality and power beloved of pulp magazine covers. I'd really like to hear the original radio serial Rohmer wrote, if I can ever find it. If I see the other Sumuru books as e-books, I'll definitely read them. And if I find the two Sumuru movies somewhere, I'll watch them too.
I enjoyed it, but for all the wrong reasons. It's a fun adventure, with lots of twists and turns and some fantastic pulpy characters, but I was completely on the side of Sumuru - what she wants is to bring beauty to the world, end wars, and make people happy. This, of course, is a Terrible Threat to the World, so of course she must be stopped. This leads to unintentionally hilarious lines like "Stop wars? That's more of a threat to world peace than those men in the Kremlin!" Seriously, Mr Ward, did you actually read what you wrote there?
Sumuru's a fun character, who just oozes the sort of sexuality and power beloved of pulp magazine covers. I'd really like to hear the original radio serial Rohmer wrote, if I can ever find it. If I see the other Sumuru books as e-books, I'll definitely read them. And if I find the two Sumuru movies somewhere, I'll watch them too.
December 31, 2011
There is a reason why Sumuru is not as famous as Fu Manchu. Fu Manchu represented the insidious yellow menace: exotic evil genius from a misunderstood culture that could threaten Western culture. But Sumuru is a mysterious evil woman (who may not be too evil) who does not want want war with the West, but she does represent evil feminism. Well Asian culture is still exotic, if not as mysterious nowadays, which makes someone like Fu Manchu still relevant as a threat. But we are a little less scared of feminism, I think. What was my point? The story was a little interesting, but could have been a little better. The protagonists were never really much of a threat to Sumuru, she just let them live...because she isn't really that evil.
February 19, 2014
A decent Sax Rohmer book only, not one of his best, introducing a new series, this time with a female villain with rather more sex appeal than Fu Manchu! A typically episodic plot, not this time because it was based on magazine stories, but rather on a radio serial. Lots of chasing around, if Rohmer fleshed out his characters more and had a more coherent plot he would have been a much better writer, the imagination is constantly there, but not always the ability to see it through.
February 10, 2011
Done later in Sax Rohmer's career, it still carries the menace and other-wordliness of his Fu Manchu books.
May 13, 2012
It was really just "meh" for me, so I assume that's just "ok" :)
March 23, 2014
Post war story of espionage and fighting against an evil group of feminists who plan to take over thw world.
December 27, 2015
A bit of an effort to finish, to me a bit of a second-rate Fu Manchu in drag but not as compelling a charscter.
May 24, 2018
Quite an engaging villainess, operating in post-war society. Fiction thriller 1950s mode...
December 17, 2022
"Humanity is faced with only two alternatives, you see. Complete, and speedy destruction, or complete and speedy, reconstruction. Our lady plans to reconstruct mankind."
The lady being, of course, the mysterious Sumuru. It is she who leads her own ‘The Order of Our Lady’, an organization which aims to create a new utopia led by women instead of men. Our heroes, Mark Donovan (a journalist) and Dr Steel Maitland are charged with attempting to prevent Sumuru from obtaining some vital scientific papers and with rescuing the daughter of a rich American industrialist who may (or may not) have been inveigled into the Sumuru cult.
It's all very Rohmer. Glamorous women turning up unannounced and in distress (the US title 'Nude in Mink' says it all!) a Fu Manchu-type character (Sumuru seems brilliant but misguided as opposed to Fu Manchus pure evil), exotic methods of death, some rather trippy hallucination sequences and chase and escape by all the parties concerned etc. There are not the set pieces of ‘action’ that mark out the best of Rohmer and by his standards the story seems a little slow but overall this is very enjoyable tosh and one feels that Rohmer has put some effort into creating a decent story. Definitely one of the better Rohmer's.
The lady being, of course, the mysterious Sumuru. It is she who leads her own ‘The Order of Our Lady’, an organization which aims to create a new utopia led by women instead of men. Our heroes, Mark Donovan (a journalist) and Dr Steel Maitland are charged with attempting to prevent Sumuru from obtaining some vital scientific papers and with rescuing the daughter of a rich American industrialist who may (or may not) have been inveigled into the Sumuru cult.
It's all very Rohmer. Glamorous women turning up unannounced and in distress (the US title 'Nude in Mink' says it all!) a Fu Manchu-type character (Sumuru seems brilliant but misguided as opposed to Fu Manchus pure evil), exotic methods of death, some rather trippy hallucination sequences and chase and escape by all the parties concerned etc. There are not the set pieces of ‘action’ that mark out the best of Rohmer and by his standards the story seems a little slow but overall this is very enjoyable tosh and one feels that Rohmer has put some effort into creating a decent story. Definitely one of the better Rohmer's.
February 10, 2024
If you take away Rohmer's blatant racism and total lack of understanding with the far east, you end up with this series.
For me at least the only reason to read him was the laughable stupidity that he constantly interjected into his very marginal writing.
For me at least the only reason to read him was the laughable stupidity that he constantly interjected into his very marginal writing.
January 26, 2016
read SOMETIME in 2009
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews