Did Talbot Mundy intend to pen a sort of Theosophical Bible? I begin to wonder, especially with The Devil's Guard. It is a follow up piece to Om: The Secret of the Ahbor Valley. Unlike the the latter, which followed Cottswold Ommony's temporal and philosophical journey across northern India, The Devil's Guard returns to an action adventure, with Ramsden, Jimgrim, Narayan Singh, and one of Mundy's favorite secondary characters, Chullunder Ghose, the babu. There are some philosophical ingredients, here, but the majority of the novel seems like a sort of Theosophical version of Numbers, where Ramsden, Ghose, and Singh are denied entry into the Promised Land. In each case, it is because of a flaw, as was the case with Moses' sin at the Waters of Maribah. Maybe that is pushing it too much. Still, it is plain that Mundy is bringing his Jimgrim series towards a close with Devil's Guard and the Promised Land of Sham-bha-la now in sight. And the action has moved to involve the core three only, plus the babu. Gone are Ross, King, Ommony, Strange, Leich, and a host of secondary characters that have filled the series.

In keeping with his want to experiment continually, however, Mundy does undertake one interesting detour. Because we know so much of Ramsden, Singh, and Jimgrim by this point, little is left to develop them psychologically, although there is some additional insight gained into Ramsden, here. But the true case of character exploration in Devil's Guard comes with Mundy's portrayal of the babu. His motivations, fears, and loyalty come under examination. Seen against his past action, it is a much more sympathetic view. The shift in Mundy's attitude is reflected in the dialog. No longer is Chullender Ghose's speech so filled with broken English. No longer is it merely comic. Here, Mundy takes him seriously. It is one of the biggest payoffs at the end. ( )

Like what I imagine the majority of the readers who pick this book up today, I began "The Devil's Guard" because of its connection to "Twin Peaks." Unlike many of the other readers I found Mundy's novel entertaining and a fine example of occult fiction. While some of his attitudes are uncomfortable to the modern reader he's better than many; he's certainly more refined and sensitive than the contemporary pulp authors who are still widely read today.

Since I've already written a bit about this novel I'll just borrow from myself: "This particular novel takes place in the continuity of Mundy’s Jimgrim and Ramsden series which were published during the nineteen twenties and thirties. Jimgrim is the nickname of an adventurer, an Allan Quatermain type, whose excursions into the Orient draw him into encounters with mysterious immortals and secret societies. Mundy himself was involved with the Theosophical Society, the occult group started by the marvelously disreputable Madam Blavatsky and responsible for much of the magical revival of the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. During the time he authored The Devil’s Guard he was not only a member of the Society according to this one nice website but a “prominent and leading member.” Whilst discussing the resurrection of pulp adventure during the second magical revival of the twentieth century, Gary Lachman describes Mundy as an ex-confidence man (oh well, Blavatsky and Gurdjieff were both implicated in very mundane confidence schemes at points), who was the “master of the mystical adventure” with his tales constituting the main precursor of Indiana Jones.

In Mundy’s novel the explorers are drawn through the Himalayas where a battle is taking place between two rival Lodges. The narrator, Ramsden is a proto-Agent Cooper as he upholds morality and loyalty and searches for his onetime compatriot Elmer Rait whose lust for knowledge and association with the the Black Lodge with its dugpa sorcerers makes him a nice analog for Windom Earle. Naturally the Black Lodge is at war with the White Lodge. Much of the lore about dugpas is derived from this book.

Note: On further consideration Cooper, with his career excellence and abundance of wisdom, is much more akin to Jimgrim than Ramsden. Ramsden, who is a stolid friend, simple, but pure is much more like Sheriff Truman. By reading The Devil’s Guard and drawing obvious conjectures, obvious upon a little bit of meditation that is, I feel that one can find where Twin Peaks would have ended up if it had been continued.

If this interests you I would recommend Alexandra David-Neel's romantic "Magic and Mystery in Tibet." ( )

Best known for his book 'King of the Khyber Rifles',this particular title is part of a series featuring James Schuyler Grim,more usually known as Jimgrim and his friend Ramsden. In the style of John Buchan,Kipling and james Hilton,it tells the story of an expedition to find the legendary Sham-bha-la. There are terrific passages of high adventure mixed with deep discussions with both white and black sorcerers of great power. Torture,both physical and mental are used against the party of adventurers,but in the end at least one of them achieves enlightenment.
This is by no means an easy journey either for the travelers or for the reader. However in both cases the effort was well worth it. ( )