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Engel contracted and paid for three more
Baroness titles, but these were never published. Peter Mayer of Simon and Schuster, a division of Pocket Books, canceled the series after the three manuscripts were written. He thought that action/adventure series were not selling enough in numbers to keep it
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Following a tire blow-out on his
Ferrari, the Baron died in the Monte Carlo Grand Prix. Penelope inherited his money, becoming independently wealthy, but for the second time found life a "void." That is, until a government friend of her first husband recruited her. Over two years, she was trained in
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for more than one writer, a common practice of using house pseudonyms in adventure fiction at that time. Some authors have said that Paul Kenyon was indeed a "house" name used by a book packager Lyle Kenyon Engel, of Book
Creations, Inc. However, Donald Moffitt admitted that he was the sole author
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She turned to modeling and while on assignment in Italy met the Baron
Reynaldo St. John Orsini, a thrill-seeking playboy. It was the Baron who "brought her to life again." Their three-year marriage was a whirlwind of jet-setting parties, fast cars and scuba diving. "Life,” he tells her, “is keener
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Born
Penelope Worthington into a Philadelphia banking family, she was educated at Miss Frothingham's Finishing School. Her father was Arthur Worthington and she sometimes recalls his wisdom with fondness. While still young, she married an older man John Stanton Marlowe, who performed "mysterious
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is the name of a short-lived series of espionage novels by Paul Kenyon. Eight novels in the series were published from 1974 to 1975 by Pocket Books. This series of books profiles the adventures of
Baroness Penelope St. John-Orsini, a voluptuous international playgirl who is also a lethal secret
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She drinks martini cocktails, smokes the occasional joint, drives a red
Porsche, throws lavish parties in her Rome mansion and enjoys fiery but casual sex with a series of handsome hunks, including suspected enemies she may well have to kill. Her jade green eyes, raven black hair and "explicit
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French translations were published in 1975 by
Eroscope under a different series name, "Penny", the nickname of the protagonist in the novels. Eroscope published all eight novels listed above and a ninth,
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cover model, the
Baroness is a "long-legged beauty in her early thirties" who runs a model agency as a cover for her espionage missions. Her preferred weapon is the
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Due to the high volume of output in such a short period of time under the Kenyon name, speculations abound whether Kenyon was one author or if this was a
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dominated the paperback spy genre, The
Baroness series distinguished itself by featuring an equally lethal and promiscuous female character.
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cheekbones" prove the perfect smokescreen. "There wasn't a line or shadow on her lovely face to show the deadly secrets that lay behind it."
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239:"Penelope felt an electric shock travel downward through the center of her body to where she was plastered wetly to the padded barstool."
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weaponry, close combat and martial arts, learning how to pass out under interrogation and kill a man with a hairpin.
242:"They lay side by side like exhausted wrestlers... a single sparkling droplet trying to ooze out of his blunt tip."
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errands" for the US government. The marriage was short-lived. He died while piloting his own Gulfstream jet.
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233:"The livid pipe still protruded straight out, glistening with their mingled secretions."
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The novels' sex scenes contain many examples of the graphically poetic pulp tradition:
236:"She flicked it downward to the slippery underside and found it muscularly imprisoned."
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In 1975, Futura reprinted only the first four books in England, with different covers.
230:"His tool grew in her hand until it was a rigid club, hot and heavy to the touch..."
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Eight Baroness novels were published within the space of one year (1974–1975) by
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212:Published at a time when male characters such as
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81:when death is looking over your shoulder."
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105:. The book covers were illustrated by
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179:A Black Hole to Die In
119:Diamonds Are for Dying
114:The Ecstasy Connection
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124:Death Is a Ruby Light
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351:American spy novels
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149:Black Gold
62:Bernadelli
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23:The first
167:pseudonym
89:The books
48:A former
247:See also
25:Baroness
203:in 1976
72:Origins
51:Vogue
216:and
101:for
57:Elle
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199:by
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