The Baroness

"The Baroness" is the name of a short-lived series of espionage novels by Paul Kenyon published in the mid-1970s. This series of books, similar in some respects to Peter O'Donnell's "Modesty Blaise", profiles the adventures of Baroness Penelope St. John-Orsini, a voluptuous playgirl by day and lethal superspy by night.

A former Vogue and Elle cover model, the Baroness is a "long-legged beauty in her thirties" who runs a model agency as a cover for her espionage missions. Her preferred weapon is the Bernadelli VB .25 caliber.

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 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."

Origins

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 errands" for the US government. The marriage was short-lived. He died while piloting his own Gulfstream jet.

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 when death is looking over your shoulder."

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 weaponry, close combat and martial arts, learning how to pass out under interrogation and kill a man with a hairpin.

The Books

Eight Baroness novels were published within the space of one year (1974-1975), all credited to Paul Kenyon.

#"The Ecstasy Connection"
#"Diamonds Are for Dying"
#"Death is a Ruby Light"
#"Hard-core Murder"
#"Operation Doomsday"
#"Sonic Slave"
#"Flicker of Doom"
#"Black Gold"

Due to the high volume of output under the Kenyon name in such a short period of time, it has yet to be confirmed whether Kenyon was one author or if this was a pseudonym for more than one writer (a common practice in adventure fiction of the time).

The Pulp Tradition

Published at a time when male characters such as Nick Carter and Mack Bolan dominated the paperback spy genre, The Baroness series distinguished itself by featuring an equally lethal and promiscuous female character.

The gratuitous sex scenes contain many examples of the graphically poetic pulp tradition:
*"She opened her mouth and the tongue, like a sly little animal, darted in."
*"His tool grew in her hand until it was a rigid club, hot and heavy to the touch..."
*"The livid pipe still protruded straight out, glistening with their mingled secretions."
*"She flicked it downward to the slippery underside and found it muscularly imprisoned."
*"Penelope felt an electric shock travel downward through the center of her body to where she was plastered wetly to the padded barstool."
*"They lay side by side like exhausted wrestlers... a single sparkling droplet trying to ooze out of his blunt tip."

External links

* [http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheBaroness/ Baroness Discussion Group]
* [http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/k/paul-kenyon/ Paul Kenyon on Fantastic Fiction]