Popular Culture Review Vol. 23, No. 1, Winter 2012 | Page 60

56 Popular Culture Review while on a mission for the National Security Agency (NSA) and left her with another fortune. Her second husband, the Italian Baron from whom she gained her title, died while auto racing in Monte Carlo leaving her with a third fortune and several villas in Italy. While even the wealthy Emir of Sonic Slave exclaims, ‘“You’re one of the world’s wealthiest women!”’ (67), Penny, as she is sometimes called, “never thought about money if she could help it. It was there, that was all” {Flicker 43). Some readers may wonder about the gender implications behind a series in which the female millionaire lead character has earned none of her money. Although this is important to note, the focus should remain on what the money allows her to do. Her fortune-gaining back story is only to give a reason for the enormous wealth that allows her to party as hard and spy as effectively as she does. Similarly, International Models, Inc. serves as her corporate cover and manages to profit well. As owners, she and her NSA boss, John Farnsworth, act as Coin and Key respectively. He gets the calls from the higher ups, and she gets the missions. After the death of her second husband, she used the contacts of her first husband to set up the Key/Coin operation. She was given special training in the deadly arts and a small operating budget. Readers see that she is a classic excitement junkie v