''Mission to Venice'' is the 21st novel in the long-running Nick Carter series of spy novels. Carter is a US secret agent, code-named N-3, with the rank of Killmaster. He works for AXE – a secret arm of the US intelligence services.

Publishing history

The book was first published in 1967 (Number A228F) by Award Books part of the Beacon-Signal division of Universal Publishing and Distributing Corporation (New York, USA), part of the

Conde Nast Publications Conde may refer to: Places United States * Conde, South Dakota, a city France * Condé-sur-l'Escaut (or simply 'Condé'), a commune Linguistic ''Conde'' is the Ibero-Romance form of "count" (Latin ''comitatus''). It may refer to: * Count ...

Inc. The novel was written by

Manning Lee Stokes Manning Lee Stokes (June 21, 1911 – January 5, 1976) was an American novelist who worked under a large number of pseudonyms. He specialized in pulp fiction, especially in the genres of mystery, detective fiction, westerns, sleaze, spy fiction ...

. Copyright was registered on 22 May 1967.Catalog of Copyright Entries. Third Series: 1967: July–December. By Library of Congress. Copyright Office, p2140

Plot summary

The novel is set in February. The

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

has lost a plane carrying a hydrogen bomb over the

Adriatic Sea The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Sea) to t ...

between

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

and

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

. Yugoslavia claims it has located the bomb in deep water off

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

and intends to use it to blackmail Italy into giving up sovereignty of

Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into provi ...

which is currently administered by the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

following

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. AXE suspects that the head of Yugoslav Intelligence, Vanni Manfrinto, knows the exact location of the bomb and has the ability to arm it underwater. AXE also suspects that Manfrinto is currently in Venice. Manfrinto's only vice is women and AXE have arranged for one of their operatives, Princess Morgan de Verizone – an international prostitute – to meet up with him. Carter will extract the necessary information from Manfrinto then execute him. Carter (in disguise as American businessman, Robert Corning) and Princess de Verizone meet up on the

Orient Express The ''Orient Express'' was a long-distance passenger train service created in 1883 by the Belgian company ''Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits'' (CIWL) that operated until 2009. The train traveled the length of continental Europe and int ...

en route from

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

to Venice and spend the night together. The Princess is being watched by two Yugoslav Intelligence officers on the orders of Manfrinto. They interrogate Carter but accept his cover story. Carter kills the two men and disposes of their bodies as the train reaches

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

. Carter and the princess get off the train separately at Venice. Carter tries to follow the princess but loses her. He discovers she will meet her contact at the

Lion of Saint Mark The Lion of Saint Mark, representing Mark the Evangelist, pictured in the form of a winged lion, is an aspect of the Tetramorph. On the pinnacle of St Mark's Cathedral he is depicted as holding a Bible, and surmounting a golden lion which is t ...

later that evening. Carter follows the princess and her contact to a deserted casino on the

Lido di Venezia The Lido, or Venice Lido ( it, Lido di Venezia), is an barrier island in the Venetian Lagoon, northern Italy; it is home to about 20,400 residents. The Venice Film Festival takes place at the Lido late August/early September. Geography Th ...

. Carter breaks into the casino and establishes that it is indeed Manfrinto's headquarters and that the princess is there. He searches the building thoroughly and then returns to his hotel. In the morning he follows the princess as she returns from her assignation with Manfrinto to her lodgings. Manfrinto's henchmen follow her. Carter shoots and kills the tail but is wounded in an exchange of gunfire. He forces his way into the princess's apartment and reveals his true identity to her. Carter and the princess join forces. The princess takes up Manfrinto's open invitation for her to return the next evening giving Carter a new opportunity to infiltrate his organization and eliminate him. The princess returns to Manfrinto while Carter lands on a small deserted island opposite the casino. The island is being used as a base for Russian divers and their Yugoslav allies to search the seabed for the missing bomb. Carter kills the divers and disables the support vessel and then swims back to the casino on the Lido. Carter is immediately captured upon entering the casino headquarters. The princess has been tortured and has revealed Carter's identity to Manfrinto. Carter escapes, kills the guards and captures Manfrinto after a chase and hand-to-hand fight. Just as he is about to torture Manfrinto into revealing the exact location of the bomb, Hawk enters and relieves Carter of his duties. Hawk and Manfrinto are old adversaries. Exhausted, Manfrinto knows he has been beaten and gives himself up to AXE custody. Under interrogation, Manfrinto reveals the location of the bomb and it is made safe. On the flight back to America Hawk tells Carter that he and Manfrinto were best friends during World War II – Hawk as OSS liaison and Manfrinto as leader of a group of

Yugoslav Partisans The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian, Slovene: , or the National Liberation Army, sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska (NOV), Народноослободилачка војска (НОВ); mk, Народноослобод ...

fighting the Germans. Manfrinto betrayed 50 men to the Germans and only Hawk and two others escaped alive. Hawk tells Carter he has left orders for Manfrinto to be executed.

Main characters

*Nick Carter - agent N-3, AXE; posing as Robert N Corning *Hawk - head of AXE; Carter's boss, *Princess Morgan de Verizone – AXE agent,

courtesan Courtesan, in modern usage, is a euphemism for a "kept" mistress (lover), mistress or prostitute, particularly one with wealthy, powerful, or influential clients. The term historically referred to a courtier, a person who attended the Royal cour ...

*Vanni Manfrinto – head of Yugoslav Intelligence

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mission to Venice 1967 American novels Nick Carter-Killmaster novels Novels set in Venice Novels set in the 1960s Novels set in casinos Cold War spy novels