James Atlee Phillips Explained

James Atlee Phillips
Pseudonym:	Philip Atlee
Birth Name:	James Atlee Phillips
Birth Date:	1915
Birth Place:	Fort Worth, Texas
Death Place:	Corpus Christi, Texas
Occupation:	Airline executive, novelist
Language:	English
Genre:	Spy fiction
Subjects:	-->
Notableworks:	Creator of Joe Gall
Spouses:	-->
Partners:	-->

James Atlee Phillips (1915 – May 26, 1991) was an American writer who used the pseudonym Philip Atlee for the "Contract" series of spy novels.

Atlee was born in Fort Worth, Texas and attended University of Texas at Austin, Texas Christian University and the University of Missouri. In World War II he worked for China National Airlines in Rangoon and later ran the national airline in Myanmar (then called Burma).^[1]

The "Contract" series featured former spy Joe Gall, who comes out of retirement to take on specific jobs. There were twenty-nine novels in the series, published from 1963 to 1976 by Gold Medal Books.^[2] The White Wolverine Contract was nominated for the 1972 Edgar Award for best paperback original.^[3]

Phillips was the father of Shawn Phillips and the brother of CIA officer David Atlee Phillips.

Bibliography

As James Atlee Phillips (incomplete):

• The Case of the Shivering Chorus Girls (1942)
• Suitable for Framing (1950)
• Pagoda (1951)
• The Deadly Mermaid (1954)

As Philip Atlee (all published by Gold Medal):

• The Green Wound (reprinted as The Green Wound Contract) (1963)
• The Silken Baroness (reprinted as The Silken Baroness Contract) (1966)
• The Death Bird Contract (1966)
• The Paper Pistol Contract (1966)
• The Irish Beauty Contract (1966)
• The Star Ruby Contract (1967)
• The Rockabye Contract (1968)
• The Skeleton Coast Contract (1968)
• The Ill Wind Contract (1969)
• The Trembling Earth Contract (1969)
• The Fer-de-Lance Contract (1971)
• The Canadian Bomber Contract (1971)
• The White Wolverine Contract (1971)
• The Kiwi Contract (1972)
• The Judah Lion Contract (1973)
• The Spice Route Contract (1973)
• The Shankill Road Contract (1973)
• The Underground Cities Contract (1974)
• The Kowloon Contract (1974)
• The Black Venus Contract (1975)
• The Makassar Strait Contract (1976)
• The Last Domino Contract (1976)

Notes

1. News: Philip Atlee, 77, Dies; Wrote Detective Novels . 2021-03-10 . New York Times . 30 May 1991.
2. Web site: Kelley . George . Philip Atlee's Joe Gall Series . Mystery*File . 2021-03-10.
3. Web site: Edgar Allan Poe Award Best Paperback Original . Cozy Mystery List . 2021-03-10.