Nude in Mink - Sax Rohmer

As a long-time fan of Sax Rohmer’s work, I’ve been meaning to read the Sumuru series for many years now and have finally gotten around to the first one, NUDE IN MINK. This novel was based on a radio serial that Rohmer wrote for the BBC in 1945 and was published as a paperback original in the United States by Gold Medal in 1950. The British edition, also published in 1950, was entitled THE SINS OF SUMURU. Reportedly, Rohmer didn’t care for the Gold Medal title, but it actually fits the story and the book sold very well, well enough for the publisher to want more. Eventually there were five Sumuru novels, all with different titles in the U.S. and England except the final one. I think there may be some other differences in the texts, but I’m no expert on that. I read the Gold Medal version of the first one, NUDE IN MINK.

So who is Sumuru, you ask? Well, she’s a beautiful female villain with a shadowy background who has a sinister international organization and wants to remake the world into what she considers an acceptable place, even though that involves murder, torture, and blackmail. She can be ruthless, but by golly, some of her ideas actually make her seem a little sympathetic. She’s not the nude in mink of the title, though. That’s a beautiful young woman Sumuru has targeted to force into her organization. This young woman escapes, and dressed only in a mink coat, she stumbles into the London flat of American reporter Mark Donovan, who is the nominal protagonist of this novel. If Sumuru is a variation on the much more famous Dr. Fu Manchu, then the Denis Nayland Smith role in this novel is filled by Dr. Steel Maitland, who also appears in Rohmer’s much earlier novel THE EMPEROR OF AMERICA (have it but haven’t read it yet).

With Donovan drawn into Maitland’s battle against Sumuru because he instantly falls in love with the nude in mink, of course, we’re off on a series of captures and escapes and a couple of bizarre murders. It’s stuff we’ve seen before in the Fu Manchu books, but it’s still quite a bit of fun. Rohmer was always great on the atmospherics.

Unfortunately, not much actually happens in this novel and it never generates much suspense or drama before it finally peters out without reaching a suitable climax. The blood and thunder that’s so enjoyable in the Fu Manchu series and many of Rohmer’s other books is missing for the most part. I wonder if the novel’s origins as a radio serial have something to do with that. Maybe the form limited him in what he could do. If that’s the case, the follow-up novels may be better.

I certainly intend to find out, because I enjoyed NUDE IN MINK enough that I want to read the rest of the series. I have the first four on hand already and if I enjoy the others I’ll find the fifth and final one. In the meantime, if you’ve never read Sax Rohmer’s work before, don’t start with NUDE IN MINK, but if you’re a long-time fan like me, it’s worth reading.