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Hachette UK
Edition details
The Destroyer#83Skull DuggeryThe DestroyerBook 831991
Skull Duggery
- Writer
- Will Murray
- Series creators
- Warren Murphy, Richard Sapir
A Chinese dissident’s flight from Beijing draws Remo Williams and Chiun into a pursuit from New York to China, where a silver skull points toward the treasure of Temujin. As a mysterious limousine and shifting alliances complicate their search, Chiun gathers a Mongol force while Remo follows a separate trail through Beijing and the steppe.
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Zhang Zingzong, a Chinese dissident who faced tanks at Tiananmen, hides in New York with a teak box he carried from Beijing. After a masked pursuer tracks him, Chiun takes Zhang to China and finds a silver-plated skull hidden in the Great Wall. Its riddle points to a broken dragon in the Gobi and then to a second skull under the stone tortoise at Karakorum. Remo follows under Harold W. Smith’s orders, first with the apparent Western-friendly contact Fang Yu and later with Kula, a Mongol bandit chief. Chiun and Boldbator assemble a growing Mongol force, while Remo and Kula stop the 27th Army troop train by severing and removing sections of rail.
The Mongols defeat a PLA border force and head into Outer Mongolia; Remo’s separate search brings him back to the black limousine and its unexplained footprints. Fang Yu reveals that she is Zhang’s wife and a Blue Bee who has been using the Ivory Fang codename, and that she serves Wu Ming Shi, the Nameless One. Wu is a former client of Chiun who once demanded that Chiun assassinate a boy prince; Chiun refused, and Wu later abducted Sinanju children to coerce him. Wu controls Remo with a drug patch and takes Chiun, Zhang, Fang Yu, and the Blue Bees toward Five-Dragon Cave. Chiun alters the skull’s instruction by carving “not” into it, but does not disclose this until later.
Zhang chooses to face a T-55 at the bridge and is run over; the text says splintered bones jam the tank’s tracks. Remo and Chiun fight the PLA, use the limousine’s gas and rocket systems, and are rescued by Kula’s cavalry. Wu takes the fatal path in the cave and dies in a collapse; Chiun later explains that he had turned Wu’s feet backward years earlier, producing the impossible footprints. A final skull says the tortoise has more than one egg, so the Mongols return to Karakorum and excavate the treasure beneath the tortoise. The recovered hoard includes jewels, jade, golden gongs, and personal objects attributed to Genghis Khan.
The chauffeur is identified by Chiun as Bruce and by Remo as the actor who played Kato, but the source gives no surname. Fang Yu’s fate is left unconfirmed: Remo fears she may be buried by the cave-in, but the source shows no body or explicit death account.
Characters & places
SpoilersFull articles
- Boldbator KhanCharacter
- ChiunCharacter
- CUREOrganization
- Folcroft SanatoriumPlace
- Harold W. SmithCharacter
- House of SinanjuGroup
- KulaCharacter
- Remo WilliamsCharacter
- SinanjuPlace
- Sinanju (martial tradition)Lore
Characters 15
Places 8
Organizations 5
Groups 2
People 1
Lore 1
Chapter summaries
Chapter 1
A masked pursuer reaches Zhang’s safe house; Zhang escapes into the snow as the black limousine and impossible footprints begin the mystery.
Chapter 2
Remo deals with Shariff and his car, Smith seeks him out, and Remo learns the Master of Sinanju needs his attention.
Chapter 3
Zhang gambles away his money in Chinatown, is recognized as a Beijing dissident, and faces pursuers seeking the teak box.
Chapter 4
Remo waits for Chiun, checks in with Smith, and drives away to resume his search when Chiun does not return.
Chapter 5
In a snowstorm Remo confronts the masked chauffeur, follows the limo’s tracks, and finds them leading beneath a garage door.
Chapter 6
Remo returns home after the New Rochelle encounter, finds no footprints on his walk, tells Chiun what happened, and leaves amid their argument.
Chapter 7
Remo follows the limousine and footprints through New Rochelle, is struck during the pursuit, and continues looking for the concealed garage.
Chapter 8
Remo and Smith enter the hidden garage and discover the revolving platform that concealed the limousine.
Chapter 9
Smith examines the snow tracks and hears Remo’s account of the man entering the limousine without leaving expected tracks; the case remains unexplained.
Chapter 10
At Folcroft, Smith explains how his covert system can marshal government resources while Remo asks how he traced the hidden network.
Chapter 11
Smith learns the Jonah Ark was abandoned, receives the bugged conversation about Temujin, and sends Remo to China with the Ivory Fang contact.
Chapter 12
Chiun and Zhang travel toward the Great Wall; Chiun kills PLA soldiers aboard the train while protecting Zhang from detention.
Chapter 13
Remo arrives at the Beijing airport and meets Fang Yu, who knows his cover identity and escorts him to the hotel.
Chapter 14
Zhang shows Chiun where he found the teak box; Chiun opens it, finds the silver-plated skull, and reads the first riddle.
Chapter 15
Remo and Fang Yu share a meal and return to her apartment, where their relationship becomes sexual.
Chapter 16
After finding Fang Yu gone, Remo sees the limousine in Beijing and fights his way past guards near the Great Hall.
Chapter 17
Fang Yu leads Remo north by train; he questions the limousine’s appearance and whether it is the same car he saw in New Rochelle.
Chapter 18
Boldbator encounters Chiun and Zhang, hears Chiun’s plan to seek Temujin’s treasure, and pledges his horse and support.
Chapter 19
Remo kills the pursuing soldier after the train stop, then argues with Fang Yu about the risks to local people and settles in a hotel.
Chapter 20
Chiun gathers Mongol riders, follows a clue into the Gobi, and discovers a fossilized dragon whose skull bears another inscription.
Chapter 21
Kula guides Remo and Fang Yu across the steppe; Remo finds the bus with dead PLA soldiers and kills three wolves that attack them.
Chapter 22
Boldbator’s Mongols infiltrate the Koko Jebei outpost, seize the tanks, and defeat General Bo Wanding’s PLA force.
Chapter 23
Kula recounts the Master of Sinanju legend and the Mongol drive toward Karakorum; Remo agrees to ride with Kula and Fang Yu.
Chapter 24
At Karakorum, Chiun and the Mongols move the stone tortoise, uncover a skull, and read its clue to Five-Dragon Cave.
Chapter 25
Remo arrives in Outer Mongolia, calls Smith, learns the 27th Army is moving by rail, and sees the black limousine while Fang Yu leaves with its driver.
Chapter 26
Remo breaks the welded rails and removes track sections; the train derails, and he and Kula fight survivors as Mongol horsemen arrive.
Chapter 27
The New Golden Horde reaches thousands as Chiun orders Boldbator to recruit more horsemen and gather news from nearby towns.
Chapter 28
Kula’s riders chase the limousine through Sayn Shanda; Remo finds the rotating courtyard and tunnel, but the driver disappears again.
Chapter 29
Remo confronts Fang Yu after the limousine chase; she says she serves her Jiao-Shi and uses the telephone to report that Remo is her slave.
Chapter 30
Fang Yu brings Chiun and Zhang a message from Wu Ming Shi; Chiun recognizes the name, agrees to go, and orders Boldbator not to follow.
Chapter 31
Remo wakes in a monastery cell as Wu’s agent administers a drug patch and orders him not to rise.
Chapter 32
Chiun enters the monastery with Zhang and meets Wu Ming Shi, who describes his failed ambition for the Dragon Throne and presents the captured Remo as leverage.
Chapter 33
Remo is brought before Wu, learns the patch compels obedience, fights the masked chauffeur Sagwa, and is forced to kill him.
Chapter 34
Chiun tells Remo why he refused to kill a boy prince, how Wu seized Sinanju children, and why he plans to offer the final skull while plotting to defeat Wu.
Chapter 35
Boldbator rides to Sayn Shanda with the teak box; Chiun takes its skull and leaves to meet Wu, warning the Mongols not to follow.
Chapter 36
Wu inspects the skull and accepts Chiun’s assurance; he demands that Chiun protect the journey, while Chiun bargains to regain Remo.
Chapter 37
At Five-Dragon Cave, Wu enters the fatal path after receiving the altered riddle; Zhang is run over at the bridge, and Kula’s riders help Remo and Chiun survive the PLA assault.
Chapter 38
Remo and Chiun identify Sagwa as the actor who played Kato; the Mongols excavate the treasure under the Karakorum tortoise and set out toward Sinanju.
Editions & covers
References & notes
Sources 28 references
- stopyourekillingme.com/D_Authors/Destroyer.html
- www.fantasticfiction.com/series/destroyer
- sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/murphy_warren
- www.45cat.com/book/title/created-the-destroyer
- api.publicrecords.copyright.gov/search_service_external/simple_search_dsl?query=TX0003017661
- www.hachette.co.uk/titles/richard-sapir/skull-duggery/9780751559316
- spyguysandgals.com/sgShowChar.aspx?id=472
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Edition and source notes
The observed source has indexed chapters 1–38, mapped in order to corresponding observed printed headings; no missing printed heading numbers were observed.
The supplied corpus is an unidentified EPUB transcription with a matching HTML container treated as a duplicate, not an independent edition witness; print-edition authenticity and bibliographic publication date are not established.
No separate indexed epilogue heading is observed; the final treasure sequence is within chapter 38.
Names are the bibliography’s title-level “written by” attribution key, not a verified edition byline. credited_authors is null because no first-edition cover/title page was checked. A creator name in the general franchise metadata must not be treated as proof of sole drafting.
registration-declared first publication: 1991-01-02. CPRS record field is the registrant/depositor-reported first-publication date, not independent retail/on-sale verification; no print copy inspected. Source
Skull Duggery:
Publisher's description: Hachette supplies only its general series overview here; it characterizes the novels as action-led stories mixing comedy and mysticism.
Presidential clues
Current U.S. President: historical identity unresolved.
Unnamed U.S. President
Unnamed incumbent President of the United States.
- Smith says the current President values maintaining U.S.-PRC relations.
- Smith says the President is counting on Remo to stop the 27th Army.
none
The source gives no personal name, date, distinctive biography, or direct appearance that identifies the incumbent.
Unnamed past U.S. President
Unnamed past U.S. President who ordered CURE disbanded during the recalled US-USSR crisis.
- Narration recalls the disbandment order during a US-USSR crisis; it does not say the United States and USSR agreed to end the Cold War.
none
The account supplies no personal name or absolute date. It is not Smith dialogue and does not establish that this officeholder is the narrative-present incumbent.
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