Your Turn, Mr. Moto
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Capitalizing on his heroic career as a World War I flying ace, Casey Lee agrees to pilot a plane across the Pacific as a publicity stunt for an American tobacco company. But his future as a goodwill ambassador between East and West takes a nosedive when the flight is abruptly canceled. Stranded in Tokyo, his bank account rapidly dwindling, Casey is approached by Mr. Moto, a secret agent with a job to offer. The work entails a matter of grave international importance—and it pays well.
Casey accepts the proposition and boards a steamship bound for Shanghai, where his mission will begin. His fellow passengers include Mr. Moto and Sonya, a beautiful exile from White Russia with her own private agenda. When a Chinese man turns up dead in Casey’s stateroom, the trio is caught up in a dangerous game of intrigue and deceit, the outcome of which might just determine the fate of their nations.
First serialized in the Saturday Evening Post, John P. Marquand’s popular and acclaimed Mr. Moto Novels were the inspiration for 8 films starring Peter Lorre.
John P. Marquand
John P. Marquand (1893–1960) was a Pulitzer Prize–winning author, proclaimed “the most successful novelist in the United States” by Life magazine in 1944. A descendant of governors of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, shipping magnates Daniel Marquand and Samuel Curzon, and famed nineteenth-century writer Margaret Fuller, Marquand always had one foot inside the blue-blooded New England establishment, the focus of his social satire. But he grew up on the outside, sent to live with maiden aunts in Newburyport, Massachusetts, the setting of many of his novels, after his father lost the once-considerable family fortune in the crash of 1907. From this dual perspective, Marquand crafted stories and novels that were applauded for their keen observation of cultural detail and social mores. By the 1930s, Marquand was a regular contributor to the Saturday Evening Post, where he debuted the character of Mr. Moto, a Japanese secret agent. No Hero, the first in a series of bestselling spy novels featuring Mr. Moto, was published in 1935. Three years later, Marquand won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for The Late George Apley, a subtle lampoon of Boston’s upper classes. The novels that followed, including H.M. Pulham, Esquire (1941), So Little Time (1943), B.F.’s Daughter (1946), Point of No Return (1949), Melvin Goodwin, USA (1952), Sincerely, Willis Wayde (1955), and Women and Thomas Harrow (1959), cemented his reputation as the preeminent chronicler of contemporary New England society and one of America’s finest writers.
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Titles in the series (7)
Your Turn, Mr. Moto Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mr. Moto Novels Volume One: Your Turn, Mr. Moto; Thank You, Mr. Moto; and Think Fast, Mr. Moto Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Right You Are, Mr. Moto Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Last Laugh, Mr. Moto Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Thank You, Mr. Moto Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Think Fast, Mr. Moto Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mr. Moto Is So Sorry Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
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Reviews for Your Turn, Mr. Moto
40 ratings7 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The plot is a fun romp with not too many surprises, the characters are not deeply drawn and the dialogue...perhaps it's best to say that the eighty some years since it was published speak of a different time. The real jewels are the glimpses of Tokyo and Shanghai that are strewn all along the way. The author speaks sympathetically of the world views of Japan and China through believable characters in that fateful decade before WWII changed everything.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A mystery written back when "Orientals" were still "inscrutable." My mom found a recent paperback reprint and gave it to me. As a mystery it's not bad; as a period piece, it's quite illuminating.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A real period piece, this spy story by John Marquand was first published in 1935. Marquand was far better know for his novels of life among the New England upper class, but his skill as a writer is vividly apparant in the Mr. Moto novels. Mr. M is an agent of the Japanese government, but which part of the government is often far from clear. This novel follows the general pattern of the Moto stories -- well bred but (often) disreputable American gets involved in a threatening Asian intrique, which he can only escape with the help of Mr. Moto (and, usually, a beautiful girl) Great fun, for what they are
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Enjoyed this first of Marquand's Mr. Moto series more than i thought. (This book was subsequently renamed 'Your turn, Mr. Moto' & 'Mr. Moto Takes a Hand' once the series was continued.) It was a fun quick read, and while some of it kept me guessing, some of it was pretty easy to figure out. But i found that i was learning about Japan's turbulent period that was leading up to WWII of which i know virtually nothing about. I recently acquired the final volume in this series so i will happily look forward to reading them all, especially since all of them but one were written prior to Pearl Harbor.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Fine for what it is, a 1930's detective story. Interesting for its predictions about a coming US-Japanese conflict. Very annoying for its repetitious use of peoples names. Every conversation involves reading the names of the participants a few dozen times - unnecessary and distracting.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Loved this. ****spoiler*** Would have been a 5, but towards the end got a little long in the descriptions of where they'd be flying, the Chinese countryside, etc...just lost me the littlest bit there at the end. Still an all timer though.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is the first book in the short Mr. Moto series, written in the 1930s.WWI flying ace and hero, Casey Lee, now a free-lance flyer, finds himself in Japan. He’s been hired by a tobacco company to fly across the Pacific as an advertising stunt. When the flight is cancelled and the company states it will pay his way home by ship. His heavy drinking has taken its toll and this is the latest slam to his deteriorating reputation.As a result of this current bout, he makes the acquaintance of a Mr. Moto and the beautiful blond White Russian refugee Sonya Karaloff. He immediately falls for Karaloff and is fascinated by Mr. Moto. Moto is an agent of Japan and Karaloff works with Moto…but Casey is unaware of that. . Between these two people, Casey Lee finds himself in a web of intrigue, espionage, danger, romance and a dab of humour.The Japanese expansionist era is the setting for the story. This was the period before WWII and Japan’s bombing of Pearl Harbor.It is interesting to note the difference of Mr. Moto’s character in the book and the movies. Being more familiar with the movies, I noticed this. Yet I still enjoyed the read.
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Your Turn, Mr. Moto - John P. Marquand
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