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This page lists novels that feature the British Intelligence agent Boysie Oakes.

"If you mourn the death of Ian Fleming - as millions do - you will be looking around for the successor to Fleming's remarkable hero, James Bond. Look no further. John Gardner's agent (known by the code letter 'L' for Liquidator), Boysie Oakes, has arrived on the scene. Like James Bond, Boysie has high standards of food, drink, and women. But e's not quite like James Bond, not like any other agent you may have come across."

The Liquidator

John Gardner

1964

A Boysie Oakes novel.

"Paris, 1944. As the city is liberated, Sergeant Boysie Oaks kills two Germans attempting to assassinate an Intelligence Corps officer named Mostyn. Two decades later, the suave, sadistic Mostyn has become the Second-in-Command of British Special Security. He recruits the man he believes is a master assassin - Boysie Oakes - to quietly murder potential security risks. He is 'The Liquidator'. But is Boysie the right man for the job? He is preparing to take Mostyn's secretary to the Cote D'Azur for a weekend of romance. Yet what starts as a few days of seduction in the Mediterranean sun turns into a nightmare for Boysie as he becomes more and more embroiled in Operation Coronet. Captured, the tables are turned, and the assassin becomes the target. Boysie Oakes will need all his wits to stay alive."

Understrike

John Gardner

1965

A Boysie Oakes novel.

"At the height of the Cold War, Boysie is sent on a routine mission to America. In San Diego, he will be the official British observer for the test-fire of America’s latest nuclear missile: The Trepholite. But the Soviets have other plans. A double of Boysie has been sent into the field. And very soon Boysie is embroiled in a game of bluff and double-bluff involving a holocaustic missile, a slick con man - and Vladimir Solev, an deadly opponent and yet also a man in whom Boysie sees something of himself. Along the way, Boysie is mixed up with two gorgeous women - the sultry Priscilla Braddock Fairchild and the luscious Chicory Triplehouse. As he adventures across the United States, Boysie must dodge bullets, deadly predators and jealous women."

Amber Nine

John Gardner

1966

A Boysie Oakes novel.

"Just when Boysie Oakes thinks he is out of the liquidating business, he finds himself on the sunny shores of Lake Maggiore. His task? To make sure that a Member of Parliament breathes his last breath. But a straightforward mission start to go awry when his mark turns up dead without Boysie lifting a finger. Who killed him? And why? It is only when he is introduced to a sadistic finishing school, run by the mysterious and dangerous Doctor Klara Thirel, that the mystery starts to unravel. Surrounded by troubled girls galore, including a certain Petronella Witching, Boysie is pulled into the biggest espionage foul-up of the century. With the help of Petronella, as well as a handful of self-important, and at times incompetent secret agents, Boysie dives into the mysteries behind the dead Member of Parliament, the sexually charged finishing school, and – most of all – who and what is behind the top-secret Amber Nine."

Madrigal

John Gardner

1967

A Boysie Oakes novel.

"The Cold War is at its height. And Boysie Oakes is back in another terrifying adventure. The reluctant assassin has been sent to Berlin to make a kill 'in the cold' on the other side of the Wall. Trying to remember his own code-name, he is soon battling enemies that include Russian secret servicemen, psychotropic drugs and a silky Chinese stripper called Rosy Puberty. Both the Soviets and the Chinese want to track down his target, and Boysie is caught up in a deadly game of power politics. And despite his best efforts, Boysie finds himself drawn into a far more sinister conspiracy - a face-to-face confrontation with the legendary Soviet spymaster General Khavichev."

Hideaway

John Gardner

1968

A collection of short stories. Includes two Boysie Oakes stories.

Founder Member

John Gardner

1969

A Boysie Oakes novel.

"Deep in the heart of London a secret meeting is taking place. Drastic plans are being put into action. But Boysie Oakes, the suave, womanising special agent for British Intelligence, is unaware of the events unfolding around him - and is revelling in being free from the treacherous clutches of Special Security. Boysie, his former boss Mostyn and Charlie Griffin, have set up their own Security Service, GRIMOBO. Their first assignment has brought them to New York and Boysie has snatched a vacation at Cape Kennedy. Life is looking up. But, of course, something has to go wrong. It's just a small thing. Some light-fingered swine makes off with a Saturn V rocket. What's more, Boysie seems to have disappeared too. The same thieves that wanted the rocket want Boysie. For a change, though, they want him alive. Very much alive. And totally functional. Boysie’s holiday turns out to be the trip of a lifetime and he ends up travelling further than he ever expected. But all is not lost as of course a beautiful woman is also along for the ride. And Boysie Oakes is about to be plunged into the most dramatic adventure of his career."

Traitor's Exit

John Gardner

1970

A Boysie Oakes novel.

"Rex Upsdale is a spent, washed-out spy writer. His trade has worn him down to the bone, and he sits alone, rejected and punch-drunk and full of self-pity. Reality and fiction have become mixed in his mind. In increasing financial trouble, he is offered some semblance of security if he will take on just one journalistic assignment behind the Iron Curtain. All that’s required is an interview with Kit Styles, the most notorious of all defectors from West to East. But it’s not as straightforward as he thinks. He hasn’t reckoned with the eternally incompetent and feckless Boysie Oakes; his puppet master, Mostyn; a neatly curved companion, Miss Hester Havisham; exploits, escapes and escapades in a tank and a helicopter and an outrageous group calling themselves the International Travelling Circus. And if he is not careful, the Traitor's Exit might also be his own."

The Airline Pirates

John Gardner

1970

A Boysie Oakes novel. Published in the US as Air Apparent.

"Boysie Oakes, ex anguished agent, ex defective private eye, and greying horrifically at the temples, is facing the wilderness of middle-age supported only by the Welfare State. At long last Boysie Oakes has reached seedy maturity - and he plans to grow old quietly without any more dangerous missions. Until, like an evil genie, up pops his oily old boss, Mostyn, offering a life of renewed luxury. Boysie is to become the sole British Director of Air Apparent, an airline which operates from one office, has no aircraft, yet, by juggling with officialdom and illegally chartering aeroplanes, manages to transfer its customers to their destinations at half the scheduled fares and still makes a vast profit. But when Boysie discovers that Air Apparent is being used for more nefarious purposes, such as the shipment of arms to third world nations, he is forced to call in his old shooting partner, Charlie Griffin. Events crowd in, culminating in a hijacking, hilarity and, naturally, hectic hedonism."

The Assassination File

John Gardner

1974

A collection of short stories. Includes two Boysie Oakes stories.

A Killer for a Song

John Gardner

1975

A Boysie Oakes novel.

"Secret agent Boysie Oakes feels completely alone. He is on the run and terrified, travelling from Paris, across France, and down to his old stamping ground, the Cote d'Azur. But who is chasing him? And why? Nobody escapes the past, and Boysie is no exception - events are catching up with him like hounds descending upon a screeching hare. A nemesis comes first in the shape of his former boss in the Department - the oily James George Mostyn. Sought out by Mostyn, Boysie finds himself back on active service and forced to sit on SEAT - Special Executive for Anti-Terrorism. A routine conference in Paris, however, reveals the truth. Both Mostyn and Boysie are being set up at the wrong end of a series of ruthless liquidations, and somebody has to lose. Before he can shout for a lifebuoy, Boysie finds himself on the run - both from the French police and security organisations, who want him for murder; and from the shadows of the past, who want him dead."