So much better were the Americans at preserving their early television shows, than we in Britain!

On this page are links with some American series that were, at least in part, produced in Europe.

We are also focusing on one American made series that we are fans of, currently
LONE WOLF

so click here for our reviews.

For other British made series with US stars, such as Errol Flynn Theatre etc:
go to Main Dinosaur TV Menu

Though there are very few actors with real charisma, I rate Louis Hayward as one of the most stylish. He infuses a 'presence' into his stories which makes this fairly routine series eminently watchable.

Picture: Chatting with the opposition in #19

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1 The Las Vegas Story
Michael Lanyard is in Vegas, looking for a Nick Kohler.
Nick’s wanted for killing a guy called Rudy in San Francisco. That’s what a cop from there, Steber, tells Lanyard. He wants Lanyard to find this Kohler, as Nick is actually his brother.
Lanyard bumps into old pal Ace, and asks him to give Kohler a Lone Wolf token, should he meet him. This brings the two men face to face, and Lanyard tries to persuade Nick to return to Frisco- “do you want to do it the easy, or the hard way?” Apparently it’s the hard way, for they have to fight. Lanyard prepares to take in his man, but Nick is killed by someone.
Lanyard is number one suspect, and attempts to get back in touch with Steber. However he soon finds out this man is no cop and there’s no murdered Rudy either! “Talk about your prize chumps,” he tells us, “I was the biggest!”
Dena (Dona Drake) is Nick’s ex-wife, she had been two-timing him for Steber and the couple had tried to use Lanyard as the patsy. She is followed as she goes to contact Steber at the Boulder Dam.
In an inspection tunnel there, there’s a chase, and on to the giant maze of generators, the most absorbing part of this otherwise mundane tale. Up steps and on to freedom for Steber! Except Lanyard is behind him, and on a viewing platform they have a final struggle
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The Blue Lantern Story

Lone Wolf is to contact Jack Anson in New York. However Anson is machine gunned down, though he leaves a clue for Michael Lanyard- a key with the name Blue Lantern New York on it, plus the initials CML. The Blue Lantern is a cafe in Greenwich Village, and when the key is presented, Amy Lou from New Orleans chats him up. The chat includes the information that her boyfriend Lew has some "unfinished business." The question is "where did you get the copper key?" No answer, and before he can be duffed up, Lanyard beats a quick retreat.
He finds another key, this one stamped Blue Lantern New Orleans. There, in Bourbon Street, he gets another chat with a girl, Lillian. The right answers this time, and he's taken behind the scenes. Lanyard is asked about Copper Mountain Lodge, before he meets Lew again, who picks a fight. Lew is killed, and Lanyard flies off to Reno, from where he drives to this mountain lodge.
The key ensures he has the run of the place. However there's no phone: "once you're in, you're in. No-one is allowed to leave without Mr Calvin's permission." For this hideout is a secret rendezvous that can be used by all the big time criminals.
Lanyard chat's up boss Mr Calvin's girlfriend: "I just thought we might break a couple of rules." But there's no exit.
He sabotages the generator. "Take it easy everybody," Calvin informs his guests. Calvin then makes his own exit via a secret tunnel, but Lanyard is following and there's a showdown. Dynamite stored in the tunnel explodes, and that's the end of Calvin.
Lanyard phones the police so they can clear up

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The Art Story

Alighting from United Airlines in Honolulu, Lone Wolf reads the headlines Pete Casman Former Pulitzer Prixe Winner Indicted For Robbery And Murder. So Lanyard immediately zips back to LA, for "robbery was not his cup of tea."
Pete had been a wartime buddy of Mike's, but now he's a subdued and changed man, all eaten up. He won't talk to Mike about the robbery in which he and an accomplice stole a van Gogh, murdering the nightwatchman at the gallery. The accomplice escaped with the painting, but gallery owner Paul Giraud managed to shoot and injure Pete. Pete still has two ears, notes Lone Wolf very cryptically.
Pete's wife Millie is a shadowy figure who seems convinced of her husband's guilt. She had even seen him that night at the gallery, where she worked.
Lanyyard reads the transcript of a fictional book that Pete is writing, and notices a recurring name, Anna Zeitlin. There is such a person in the phone book and Lanyard talks to her. Anna (Birgit Neilsen) knows Pete and states he is very worked up, but her account certainly conflicts with that of Millie.
Pete breaks out of his mental ward, rushing to the gallery to get his revenge on Millie and her pal Paul Giraud, who had framed Pete. Lone Wolf stops his old buddy from doing anything daft, and then chases Millie round the gallery, including the impressive dinosaur room, she thinking it's her husband in pursuit. She blurts the truth out: "Paul's idea was to blame you." She's under arrest and Giraud is discovered with the van Gogh hidden under his shirt (!), so patsy Pete is at last exonerated.
Lone Wolf returns to Honolulu

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San Francisco Story
Some great lines in this story of Michael Lanyard back in his favourite city to help Mary Morgan, wife of dead racketeer Angus. In a flashback we see how Lone Wolf feels responsible for the death not only of Angus, but Mary's daughter Barbara. When Mary had first learnt of her husband's criminal activities, she had demanded a divorce. Lanyard had acted as go-between. Next day Angus Morgan and Barbara were killed in an explosion on their yacht.
"Where do you begin looking for a dead man?" Mary is convinced they are not dead, despite all the evidence. Michael promises to scour the city for them even though he is "only going thru the motions."
Lily, "with ice water for blood," had been Angus' secretary. She's doing OK for herself these days. She seems to visit a sanatorium very frequently, and Lone Wolf begins to suspect Angus could be hiding in there. The police agree, in a way- but only in a way, because they have just found his recently murdered corpse! Lanyard is taken to the morgue, with the classic line: "Whoever killed Angus had to be someone who knew he was alive."
He suspects Lily, but she's not talking. He tries sympathy, explaining he only wants to reunite Barbara with her mother. "I don't care," responds the grim Lily.
Lily is trailed thru the wet city streets to the derelict exposition grounds.This makes an impressive backdrop to the showdown: "nice to see you Angus. You've been killed so many times, I've had trouble keeping up with you!"
Angus is prepared to offer Lanyard money, but he won't give up Barbara. "Talk about my daughter, you'll end up wearing a box."
They chase around the deserted place before they have a punch up. He takes a pill and is no more.
Lily is now ready to spill Barbara's whereabouts, in a New York school, and at last mother and child are reunited, "like being born again."

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Avalanche Story
Lone Wolf is in Reno chasing down a woman who had been thought to be dead. Yvette Marchand had betrayed "nine of my men" back in the war in 1944, and Lanyard wants her to answer for it.
But it's he who is arrested by Stillman (Horace McMahon)- the charge? stealing explosives. The evidence?- a Lone Wolf medallion is at the scene of the robbery. Surely it's the one Lanyard had posted to Yvette.
She is working at the Palace Club. "The last ten years hadn't changed her very much." He reminds her of Paris back in 1944: "you were supposed to give us the name of some ammunition dumps, remember?" But her memory doesn't seem that good. He asks for his medallion: "I lost it," she replies lamely. So "who're your playmates?" Before he receives an answer he's knocked down. She leaves in a hurry.
Her accomplice has the loot, but does he know it's a bomb? He boards the Southern Pacific for Sacramento as the snow starts to fall.
Lanyard follows and in compartment 12A, there's Yvette, dead.
An avalanche halts the train in an isolated spot. There's no way off the train, and the explosives will be going off in two and a half hours. Rescue before then is impossible.
With Joe Saks (Ernest Borgnine), Lanyard scours the train for the accomplice and the bomb. With no progress, Saks rounds up the passengers and crew and explains the situation they're in. With only one hour left, he urges the thief to produce the case containing the bomb. "The clock kept ticking away."
14 minutes to go: "the cold had transformed the steel coaches into icy tombs." Now I call that poetry!
Lanyard thinks he might have spotted one suspicious passenger, Johnson. Yes, he's the one. But the crook is not convinced that what he has stolen is a bomb. "Before I killed Yvette, she told me you'd be trouble." Two minutes left, and Lanyard overpowers him and rushes down the train, throwing the case out of the back coach. An explosion.
"I said a prayer of thanks."
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7 The Chinese Story
In San Francisco's Chinatown, Lanyard's friend Rose is frightened, for her brother and cousin have just been killed.
Her father, Ti Ling, is scared too: "any one of us might be next." The old story of The Tong demanding protection: "sounds like Chicago in the Twenties," Lanyard comments. Ti's attorney, Frank Parker, advises acquiesence: "money isn't as important as a life."
In a quiet alley, Lanyard is nearly throttled with a silk cord. When he comes to, he is lying in a cellar, his only companion a snake. He beats a retreat, and encounters Chang who warns him "you're a dead man Lanyard," unless he leaves town.
"A strange little man," Caster, has a photo of this Chang. He tells Lanyard where Chang hides out, the Hong Kong Cafe. A fight, with Lanyard demanding answers: "who's the chief man?" And he concludes his duffing up of Chang with "I don't like you."
Lanyard knows all he has to do now, is wait for a reaction from the Head Man. It's Parker! He eludes the Lone Wolf, but Ti Ling organises a posse to polish Parker off: "findee!" Lanyard races the revengeful mob to try and get him first, for "sometimes even the most peaceful people can become brutal and savage."
After a lengthy hunt with interesting 1950's San Francisco street scenes, Parker is cornered....by the Lone Wolf. "We can clean up," Parker offers a deal. "I've seen some rats in my time," Lanyard tells him, "but you top everything." Lt Samson arrests Parker just before the mob can strike. "It's been a long day," sighs Lanyard.
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The Minister Story
The quiet town of Centerville is where Rev Geoff Hallam (Henry Morgan) lives. As he saved Michael Lanyard's life five years ago, he deserves help. "Someone is trying to kill me," he tells Lone Wolf. But who is shooting at him? The priest believes the police will suspect a thief whom he testified against, "he's the logical suspect." But Rev Hallam is fairly sure this Jack Proctor is not trying to kill him.
"I don't like this guy," Proctor says of Lone Wolf, but he seems to like noone. He "asks for it all the time" according to the local sheriff, who is keeping a close eye on this guy with a chip on his shoulder.
Ellen Hallam, Geoff's daughter, briefs Michael on the local characters. "It was too friendly a town," he comments. Until, that is, he spots a man with a rifle. Lone Wolf tackles him. It's Jack Proctor, and the sheriff pulls him in.
But it's all "too pat. Proctor knows something he's not telling." So Lanyard gets some background from Hallam's bishop. It seems Proctor is his only real enemy. But one sad fact emerges- Geoff's wife died in an automobile crash ten years back. The priest had been driving, "he's never driven a car since."
In the San Francisco Journal from 1944, Lanyard reads a report of the crash. Housewife Killed, the headlines read, Minister's Wife Critically Injured. Later she had died too.
At the sheriff's office, Lone Wolf brings Proctor and Hallam face to face. "These things can't be put away and forgotten." It was the sheriff's wife whom Geoff had accidentally run over.
Explains the sheriff: "I started to figure on killing him. First I wanted him to suffer." Geoff can only express his deep regret. What can he do?
"Make a miracle," sadly asks the sheriff. He runs off, but Lanyard gives chase along railway tracks. You can guess the rest. But no, for once the train is late. He's simply captured.
The tale ends with Lone Wolf and the priest exchanging literary quotes, as they have done thruout
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10 The Skid Row Story
Skid Row- "this is the bottom," as Lone Wolf walks slowly to see an old friend, Father Picard who runs the St Joseph Mission.
The priest wants help for Dan McGee, who is on death row for allegedly killing a cop. Picard is convinced of the man's innocence. Lanyard starts with his girl Mary: "never heard of him," she tells Lone Wolf. He'd found her with the aid of 'The Mayor of Skid Row,' Johnny, who had warned that Mary would be "hard to handle."
Mary's new friend, Fingers is "rotten" by all accounts. But clearly she ain't entirely forgotten Dan, for there's a sketch of him on the wall of her small room. She eventually admits she knew Dan, who is to die at noon tomorrow. On the night of the killing, he'd been "in a fog" and couldn't recall much. He had only mumbled something about "white bow ties." For spilling even that, Fingers later gives her a work over. "I didn't like a guy named Fingers," Lanyard tells us, and we can only agree. He confronts the sneering Fingers and notices this odd habit the villain has, of sketching people, then screwing up and throwing away the picture almost in the shape of a bow tie....
But Lone Wolf has been drugged, and collapses in an alley. He's only lucky Johnny finds him almost at once. He has little time left to prove Fingers is the killer, and goes for the easiest option- rough stuff.
"I thought I'd got rid of you last night," exclaims Fingers and gives the game away, the cops handily overhearing his remarks to Lone Wolf. "Lucky Fingers broke in time."
Dan thanks Lanyard and kneels with Father Picard for a prayer of thanks
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The Savage
Another cable from an old friend: "Need Your Help."
On an unnamed island, Lone Wolf looks for his pal Suva Polege, who is strangely nowhere to be found. Col Lana of the police is unhelpful, saying Suva is "a barbaric monster," a description Michael Lanyard cannot recognise. Gerda van Ryck is Lana's fiancee, her father owns most of the land around here, and she offers Lanyard the chance to purchase some property. When Suva's assistant is found murdered in a "very primitve" way, Lana insists it's caused by voodoo, which Suva is behind. He shows proof, with shrunken heads etc.
"It doesn't make sense," says Lone Wolf, in one of his favourite lines. He seeks for some rational explanation, and does find out the natives are being drugged.
This brings him face to face with Suva, who gives his side of the story. Lana is a dictator who wants "prosperity only for a few," but Suva wants it for all. But when Lanyard lets out Gerda is engaged to him, he brusquely dismissed Lone Wolf.
Gerda tells Michael she's in love with Suva and her 'engagement' is only a way of her attempting to bring her fiance and her father round to a less selfish viewpoint.
Suva, angered by her apparent betrayal of their love, along with the natives, is getting restless. Col Lana is taken prisoner and just as Suva is "going back to the jungle for good," Lone Wolf succeeds in talking him round. Lanyard's rather primitive methods get Lana to confess to his greed, and democracy is restored to the island.
This is a story that takes a lot of swallowing, but is really just too indigestible
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The Malibu Story
Rich Brian lives in Malibu and has invited Lone Wolf for a weekend. But it is Trouble that Michael Lanyard senses when he meets Brian's new wife Lori. She's a big spender, and poses as a model for Arturo Rienzi, whose paintings are very much of the modern school. Certainly not quite to the taste of Lone Wolf. Arturo is also there for the weekend, along with Dr Glopius (Rhys Williams) a distinguished art critic.
Brian is worried about the "fortune" of diamonds he keeps in his safe. Michael promises to keep an eye open.
He talks to the bubbly Lori: "I like excitement- anythng that can be called a challenge." She believes in this Arturo, "he has talent." And she poses one odd question to Lanyard, asking why he thinks Brian had married her.
Two hours later, Michael finds her body being washed away by the tide on the shore. He brings the corpse indoors, and finds the diamonds have been stolen. Brian asks Lanyard to find them, though how he puts it implies he thinks Lone Wolf might be the guilty party.
Some photographs taken by Dr Gropius give Lanyard "an idea." He finds some diving equipment that has been recently in the water and a spear belonging to Brian. He accuses Brian of killing his wife and taking his own diamonds. Brian runs for it, shooting as he goes. The chase concludes on the beach where, as he tries to shoot, Brian is felled with his own spear. He admits it all and offers Lone Wolf a bribe. But Michael cannot accept that.
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16 The Smuggling Story

Mike Lanyard has arrived by ship from Hong Kong, en route palling with Jean Arnold (Barbara Billingsby), a dancer with the Henri Felix troupe. Together they take a cab, that of Sam (Bob Nichols) who drives them, not to the Wilton Hotel, but to a warehouse, and a Mr Bracken (Burt Mustin). He "wants the jewels." $100,000 of jewels. They are not on Mike, but the lady isn't searched. "You'll be hearing from us- soon," promises Bracken, as he departs.
Later Mike calls on Jean after her show, but is given the brush off, at least by Henri: "somehow I got the impression I'm not welcome here." So he returns to the hotel where he finds Bracken and Sam searching for the jewels. Still nothing.
The police enlighten Mike over this "jigsaw puzzle." The mystery seems less obscure when he's told of this robbery in Hong Kong of rubies to the value of $100,000.
Jean confides in Mike that she suspects Henri of the robbery. Mike surmises that the jewels might have been smuggled in to America in the jeweled hat she wears in her dance.
He goes to ascertain if he's right, but only finds the company have quit the theater, and indeed town. Except, that is, for Henri, who is dead.
That fine comic duo, Bracken and Sam, who suspect Henri of the theft, tell Mike that they spotted Jean going to the harbour. There's a chase before Jean is caught, Bracken grabbing the jewels, and running off. Mike isn't going to let him get away! The police arrive to round the crooks up, though Bracken and Sam prove to be only private detectives, after the reward money. They offer Mike an attractive partnership, but that's not the Lone Wolf's style

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19 The Robbery Story
Just as Lone Wolf is calling at the shop of St Louis jeweler Carl Phillips, thieves break in at gunpoint and force Carl to open his vault. A shipment of diamonds is stolen and Carl is senselessly shot dead.
Lt Hendricks takes Mike to the Mug Room where he is able to identify Loran Dane (Aaron Spelling) as one of the thieves, and Joe Reed as the nasty killer.
Lone Wolf is anxious for revenge for his dead friend, and tries to put the squeeze on one of Reed's friends, a singer named Nancy (Dorothy Arnold). She says she don't want to be involved, or in her words, "I don't want to point like a bird dog." Mike Lanyard tags her, but to no avail until an expensive limo pulls up outside her apartment, and off she is driven. The license number is checked by Hendricks to a Murray Fitch, who in the past has been brought in for several crimes, though nothing has ever stuck.
When Lone Wolf encounters Nancy again, she's packing. She also carries a black eye. Yes, she admits she had seen Fitch who had kindly paid for her to take this vacation. "Keep you door locked," Mike tells her darkly.
He picks up Hendricks and the two interview Fitch. There is no sign of Dane and Reed at his place. Mike gives Fitch something on account for Nancy's workover, whilst the police turn a blind eye. Finally Fitch cracks and says the pair are at a hotel. "They said they'd never be caught alive."
It's quite tense, as Mike and Hendricks approach Room 8 at this hotel. Yet there's only one sound- snoring! But the door is locked. The porter is told to tell Reed that Fitch is on the phone, and as there were no phones in hotel rooms in those days, Reed emerges from his hiding place to be given what he deserves by Mike, maybe a bit more. Who's their top man? Fitch comes the reply. Charges against that villain will stick this time

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20 The Wife Story
To "regain my youth" Lone Wolf takes a week's vacation, but there's no rest when he hears shots as he's driving past a house. "I killed her," says Mr Richmond. However his wife ain't quite dead, even though there's a bullet through her middle. Lone Wolf immediately picks up the phone, but the man prevents him. "I want her dead."
Lanyard has to acquiesce, waiting for a mistake, as Richmond has a gun. The husband explains how his perfect marriage was ruined one evening when he'd overheard Kaye on the phone to Martin. "I love you," she had finished. She'd been very evasive about him. Now Richmond is awaiting Martin's arrival- to shoot him too.
Lanyard tries to work out how many bullets he had heard fired. How many bullets has he left? At least one, which he uses when Lanyard tries to jump the killer.
The stand-off continues, Lone Wolf wounded, Kaye ever more delirious. Then we hear Martin's car approaching. "I knew he was a dead man." However this is only a cop checking on why Lanyard's car is blocking the road. The cop is prisoner number two. "You're enjoying it," Lanyard goads Richmond, who bursts into tears as his wife's suffering comes to an end.
Now Martin is coming. Richmond dashes out to shoot him. But he is out of bullets, and he himself collapses. "He's had a bad heart for a long time." Well, I didn't guess that ending, nor Lanyard's moral finish. "You're just no good," he warns Martin and slaps him across the face .... To Lone Wolf Menu

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Planetarium Story
Full of interesting location shooting, this begins in Washington with Michael Lanyard being commissioned to discover who sportsman Jackson Smith is planning to sell a strip of microfilm to.
Lone Wolf makes friends with Smith and the pair fly in Smith's private plane to LA. However it conks out and Smith is killed. Lanyard proceeds to LA with the film in his possession, first meeting a Chronicle reporter named Colder. He slugs Lone Wolf, but can't find the film.
A golf ball with the legend Griffith Park takes Lanyard to this club where he pairs up with a Laurence Groom for a round: "I didn't particularly like him," Lone Wolf tells us in his laconic way. Groom offers to purchase the film: "I suggest you accept."
Lanyard is mulling over the case at the zoo, both Groom and Colder tailing him. A blind man, Rimm, in sinister tones, demands the film. They drive to meet Rimm's boss at the Planetarium. That's the man Lanyard wants to nail down. Faster and faster they drive, as Groom and Colder keep pace. Some shooting and Rimm is injured as is Groom. "He's on top of the Planetarium," gasps Rimm with his dying breath to Lanyard.
To the eerily deserted building Lone Wolf walks, knowing someone is watching him. "Your hands behind your head, please." Mr Chou demands the film. But Colder breaks in, and Chou is knocked out. Colder struggles with Lone Wolf, the former of course tipping over the edge of the observatory. "Better you than me."
Lone Wolf is thanked officially at the conclusion of the case

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Honolulu Story
In Honolulu, Lanyard's old friend Jack Wong promises to put the word out that Lone Wolf wants to meet Harry Chang. He's a known smuggler whom customs want to nail.
At The Coral Seas gambling club Lanyard meets Raymond Varney and his wife Susan. He runs the Aloha Fine Hawaiian Foods Company, suspected of being involved with the smuggling. A man in a check suit, Phil Ravenna, seems mighty friendly with Susan, and Ray seems not to care. Phil has this oblique but pointed discussion with Lone Wolf.
Back at his hotel at 3am, Lanyard is contacted by Chang. Another oblique talk, a hypothetical question- suppose one wanted to import something without paying duty? Chang claims he knows natives who can ferry goods into out-of-the-way little harbours.
Even later, Susan Varney asks for Lone Wolf's help. She says she's afraid and must get away, but it's too late for that, as she is shot dead.
Lanyard noses around Phil's apartment. He finds some letters of Susan plus an unusual flashlight. When Phil returns unexpectedly, he denies killing Susan. Ray denies it too, adding he loved his wife, even though she was much younger than him. He is sure she was afraid of Phil.
So Lone Wolf sets this trap at Varney's warehouse, inviting Chang and Phil. With Phil's special flashlight, Lone Wolf demonstrates how the marked cans of tinned food could be picked out by the smugglers. The police catch the smugglers and the murderer is exposed. Simple.
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25 The Carnival Story-
Michael Lanyard spends his vacation with old friends, circus clowns Javo and Javette, the latter has been mute ever since the Gestapo ripped out his tongue.
But a happy time is spoilt by the presence of Frank Gibson, of the Federal Insurance Company. Why is he working under cover at the carnival as a prop man? And why is his girl friend Rubye so pally?
Gibson offers Lanyard a share of the reward he's after, for recovering the loot from an armoured car hold-up. "It didn't make sense," Lanyard muses, for why should $100,000 be hidden in such a small circus, and where?
Javette is learning the tricks of the trade from Punch and Judy man and his daughter Theresa: "they were nice people." It's Javette's birthday and Javo has made a cake for him with three candles, one for love, one for devotion and one for friendship. After their enjoyable act in the ring, they celebrate... or rather they plan to do so, for where is Javette? Gibson discovers him in the ring, hanging upside down.
Though the coroner pronounces it "accidental death," the Lone Wolf is suspicious when he finds a stash of money hidden in a milk bottle prop. Obviously Javette had discovered it, to his cost.
Rubye is behind the robbery, and she tries to buy off Lanyard. But he cannot so easily dismiss his friend's murder, and she draws a gun. She shoots Frank and scurries off: "I've seen some rotten dames in my life," Lanyard tells us, "and she belonged to the head of the class."
A chase on a roller coaster provides a different, if predictable, finish. The only downside is, you just can't make roller coasters go any faster. At the very top, off she jumps. As Mike's car draws up, the wounded Frank shoots. She topples to her death. "I didn't feel sorry," admits Mike.
Still disconsolate, Javo is cheered a little when Mike agrees to don the greasepaint and take on Javette's part in the act.
This is an enjoyable bitter-sweet little story. Note- at one point there seems some confusion when Louis Hayward tells us: "if Javo could talk....."

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Plantation Story
A slow story, that starts well in the fog, then builds to an unlikely climax the other side of the world in stifling heat.
Owner of a large sugar company, Vance Conners, has called in Michael Lanyard. Oddly, at the foot of the steps leading to his front door, lies a man, a knife in his back.
"I never saw him in my life before," Vance tells Lone Wolf. But he surmises the man might have been coming with information on the Southern Cross Company, who have been undercutting Vance's trade, thus threatening to ruin Vance's business.
Lanyard travels by ship to Manilla to find out about Southern Cross. Vance's stepdaughter Angela (Frances Rafferty) accompanies him. On board he meets Jim Strait (Henry Morgan) who says he has business interests in Manilla.
"I had a feeling Angela wasn't on the level," Lone Wolf confides to us. As she's just handed him a jewel box to look after, he's surely right there. He finds it full of soda. "Michael, let me explain." Though she does, Lanyard concludes "my hunch kept saying something else."
Then Angela's maid, mistaken for her mistress is shot and thrown overboard. Lone Wolf promises to protect Miss Conners, from any further danger.
Strait invites Lanyard to look over his plantation, and yes, he works for Southern Cross. "I had a feeling I'd walked into an armed camp," comments Lone Wolf as he is welcomed at the home of The Colonel. The official tour gives Michael the impression everything important is being kept discreetly out of sight, so he snoops round on his own. "It turned my stomach," he tells us, as he finds the place is run with slave labour, like a concentration camp.
"We gave up slavery a long time ago," Lanyard informs The Colonel. But of course Lone Wolf is now a prisoner.
Angela turns up. She's in on it too. She was the one who had killed her maid, who had found out too much. She hates her stepfather, but "I could be happy with you," she leers at Michael. His response is to make a run for it, free the slaves and with their grateful help, the regime of the Colonel is busted.
Lone Wolf reports back to Conners, who ends with this sad conclusion: "I don't understand."

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The Hunt
En route from Mexico to New York, Lone Wolf is mysteriously taken to a city hospital where Dr James Warner innoculates Lanyard against cholera. Then Lone Wolf is shown the corpse of Tad Morgan, a victim of cholera. He had been second-in-command to gunslinger Wells Jackman. Michael Lanyard's task is to finds Wells urgently: "time is of the essence."
Clown Phil Jackman is related to Wells, but says he is unable to help. Wells is "too bad an onion!" However Phil's son Jim seems rather unwell: "just a cold I guess."
But the lad worsens and Dr Warner has to concede Jim is dying of cholera. "You came to us too late."
A broken Phil rants against the "filthy murdering scum... mean, vicious." But he really can't help trace Wells.
Another friend of the crook, Copie, at the snooker hall, is unhelpful too. But in the hall is another sufferer from cholera. Name of Russ Whitefield, one of Jackman's boys. But Wells has evidently flown from Russ' home.
Girlfriend of Wells, Lorna Mason (an unconvincing actress) is a posh dame who won't help either, seeing Lanyard out of her apartment at the point of a gun. "You're such a fool, you know," is Lanyard's parting shot. But he returns to finds $50,000 in her room, a feeble attempt to buy him off.
The quarry is hiding in Phil's burlesque house, seeking revenge on Phil. Lanyard dons the clown's disguise and in a surreal scene a knife is thrown. "Jackman's eyes looked as though they were on fire." Lone Wolf spits out the truth: "you got cholera" as they climb up to the gods, Jackman sweating ever more profusely. They come face to face high up in the theater, Jackman with his knife lurching wildly. Cholera doesn't get him, but his fall does.
This story starts powerfully and ends dramatically, but disappointingly tends to drop pace in between, but it's one of my favourites of the series

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32 The Werewolf Story
Wealthy Anastasia Grafton-Bern (Doris Lloyd) has used part of her 50 million fortune to purchase a Bavarian castle, where she intends to live like a feudal queen. Michael Lanyard is contracted by her lawyer to keep an eye on her. He accompanies her as she sails for her new "kingdom," along with the vendors, a prince from an ancient family and his sister Zia, who are "weird, far from normal... they live in the thirteenth century," for the prince despises the current age. "Soon the world will again belong to one or two families," Princess Zia tells Lanyard. "You may kiss me," she adds, but is not amused when he obeys not.
Anastasia explains to Lanyard why she has bought the castle. She dreams of being a queen. But one chilling fact emerges, that when she dies, the castle will revert to the prince's family. It's "an invitation to death."
"Isn't it wonderful... beyond words," declares Anastasia on entering her castle. "Is there a throne room?!" More scarey is Boris, a giant amongst dogs, who greets his lord and master quite affectionately. But the new 'queen' does not like dogs and wants him removed. No dice. The prince seems to still be in charge. But she gets her way in one respect at least, when the local priest is refused permission by the prince to speak. Anastasia gives him audience, though what he utters is a little discouraging: "terror stalks the night," he tells her. A werewolf! One villager has had his throat torn. When they examine him, the smell of verbina reminds Lanyard of the scent Zia wears.
"It was like living in a medieval nightmare," he observes.
Obviously he knows too much. He is escorted to the cellars, where Boris is to be his executioner. Zia is to put verbina on Lanyard's throat, but before that can happen, the snarling Boris gets a whiff of it and it is Zia whom he attacks. Lanyard shoots the hound arousing fury in the prince, and a fight ends up with the prince stabbed with his own knife

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Ski Story
Lanyard meets old friend Carl at a ski resort, where he's running a ski shop. Carl's son, champion skater Lars had died eight months previously in a car smash. Lone Wolf commiserates.
He also meets old flame Renee, now engaged to Robert, who is part of the French skiing team. However captain Collette has only made her the reserve for their team which is favourite to win the tournament.
It's frustrating for "one of the world's finest women skiiers" Renee, but her chance seems to come when Marie is injured.
But then Collette is found dead by Carl, a ski pole driven thru her temple. Renee seems the chief suspect as she had been arguing with Collette, not only about her place in the team but about her fiance whom Collette had fallen for also. Indeed that's why it seems Collette had made Renee "fifth place in the team."
Lanyard looks for the killer whom he believes must have a frostbitten hand. That's Jeanne, Collette's sister, who had also (of course) rowed about her boyfriend. She says she didn't do it, and saw a man with her sister just before she died. But who was it? And what was his motive?
Lanyard is knocked out, and when he comes to, he quickly follows the ski tracks of his assailant. It leads to his old buddy Carl. He is apologetic, but draws a gun. He has to kill Lone Wolf. But he can't go thru with it. He confesses he had killed Collette because she had "destroyed" Lars, then "left him for another man." Lars had been so distraught, he didn't know what he was doing that night his car crashed. "I think I did right," concludes Carl.
The police arrest him, but insanity seems the obvious defense

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The Oil Story
Anita Lawson in Oklahoma has "more than ordinary trouble" as she employs Lanyard to trace her missing son Kip. Her estranged husband Blake has snatched him.
As he's an oil man, Lone Wolf looks for him in the region of the latest strike. He plays it low key, obtaining a job with Blake's outfit: "we start drilling tomorrow at six."
He has a girl friend, known as Ed, and even Lanyard has to concede "he seems like a nice guy."
Brave too, as it's dangerous work, searching for oil with explosives. Lanyard saves him from certain death, at the expense of some injury to himself. But at least they've found a well that needs capping!
Once he's recovered, Mike Lanyard hears the other side of Blake's story from Ed. "he loves his son. Anita wasn't that humane." It makes Lone Wolf wonder if he's working for the wrong side, and that's the fine tension of this interesting story. Having won Blake's gratitude, Lanyard loses it when he roots out Blake looking after his son in an isolated cabin. "Kip was happy and very much at home." They discuss the boy's future, but it's Ed who explains the whole truth why Blake cannot legally try and gain custody of his child. He doesn't want Kip to learn of his mother's greed. "To Anita," Blake observes, "Kip was nothing but an annuity policy."
"I'm going to take the boy back," suddenly announces Lone Wolf, in a surprise move. But he has his reasons.
"You can stop acting now," he tells Anita. Unless she renounces her child, Lanyard will expose her crookedness. "I've always wanted money," she confesses pathetically.
Thus father and son are happily reunited. Somehow.

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The Karachi Story
High Priest El Radman has sent Lone Wolf to Karachi to investigate corruption in his cult. At his shrine, Lanyard is knocked out. "I don't like your welcoming committee," he tells the high priest Shalmar, when he comes round. The antagonism is explained when Lanyard is introduced to a man claiming to be Lone Wolf! "Which of you is the imposter?"
In a flashback, as he's kept prisoner, Lanyard tells us how back in USA he had been asked by Radman to protect his 16 year old son Eli, who has been attacked by various factions of the cult. Lone Wolf's task is to discover the leader of this group.
A waiter, Singh, shows Lanyard a way of getting out of the place. "A surprise," he's taken to a girl called Lynn who keeps calling Michael Lanyard "Roger." They go on a long drive as she tells him "I'm in on the whole scheme." Apparently Lanyard is to be dumped "in the river" tonight! Coolly, Lanyard responds "good riddance" as he lights up.
But the villains have a change of plan, deciding to frame Lone Wolf for the murder of Eli, so 'Roger' alias Lanyard drives swiftly off to protect the boy. He's being guarded by the real Roger, the one impersonating Lanyard, "he has the proper credentials," the baddies believe. The boss comes in with Lynn and a punch up prevents Eli's killing.
"Michael, how can I ever repay you?" says a smiling El Radman afterwards

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The Arena
Rich Paul de Lacey, yet another old pal of Lone Wolf, has been killed in an accident in a cave. A world renowned amateur archaeologist, this widower had left behind his business fortune to his son Steve and daughter Pamela.
Steve tells Lanyard that he believes Pam killed him. Though he has no proof, he knows it by instinct. They are now estranged so Lone Wolf goes to get her angle. "I wanted Steve to be wrong."
Pam says her father had been on the verge of finding a lost tomb when he was killed. "It wasn't an accident," she adds, echoing her brother's line. But her verdict is different- she thinks Steve is the killer. She spotted what somehow the police overlooked, a booby trap in the cave.
Lanyard also speaks with Ed Philips (Willis Bouchey), Paul's business partner, and with Alan Harper, Paul's attorney. They both concur with the police view it had been an accident.
Lanyard pores over Paul's files and after chatting with the police tells us "I was beginning to get a pretty clear picture."
In his hotel room, he reunites Pam and Steve, and shows up the killer. Ed had killed his partner as Paul was passing over control of the business to Steve, and apparently this would stop that. As Ed's terminally ill anyway, this pathetic figure didn't really need to sink so low. But at least the children are together again.
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