Kiss the Girls and Make Them Spy

2001, first edition, from HarperEntertainment
Mabel Maney
Kiss the Girls and Make Them Spy: An Original Jane Bond Parody
Bought newish for $14.00
Worn paperback
C-

I don't know if it's that I've never read a James Bond novel, and I think I've only seen one movie all the way through, but I didn't get much out of this book.  On the other hand, I didn't grow up reading Nancy Drew or Cherry Ames, but I enjoyed Maney's earlier parodies.  And, despite a plot to reinstate Edward VIII (in 1965), this has none of the loopy charm of Ted Mark's Here's Your O.R.G.Y. (1969).  I liked only two of the characters, Jane's bookshop employer/chum and the cat-crazy old lady.  Worst of all, there's none of the clip-art-on-acid like in the Nancy & Cherry series. 

Only the sort of amusing names, like Lady Wooley-Booley and Bibi Gallini, and the fashion descriptions kept this from a D+, and even there, it felt fresher in Maney's '90s works.