Death of a Pornographer / Anthony Lejeune

Something fishy is going on at Layton Industries, a huge post-war corporation that conducts secret research for the government. Gifford, who doubles as a crime reporter and undercover agent for one of these unnamed intelligence agencies in London, begins to uncover a story for his two bosses and soon becomes embroiled in a ring that includes a murdered French publisher of pornographic novels, a British industrialist (whose daughter arouses romantic interest), the obese and obscene owner of a Left Bank lesbian nightclub, a sleazy Eastern European salesman and a group of assorted murderers and thugs. The action is fast-paced (and painful) as our hero escapes death at the hands of a) four racetrack thugs, b) a rat-faced man-pusher on the underground, c) a sniper, d) a gang of Parisian beatniks in leather jackets (all female) and e) a nasty guy who tortures Gifford by remote control with the mechanical arms used to move radioactive material in a nuclear lab.