Ross Thomas

"Die Geschichte beginnt mit einem Telefonanruf morgens um vier in Durango, einer trostlosen Stadt in Kalifornien, abgeschnitten von der Welt - eine Stadt, die Gott vergaß. In dieser Abgeschiedenheit dient sie vor allem als Versteck für Leute, die Schutz vor Verfolgern suchen, wie Jack Adair, einst Oberster Richter, der wegen eines Steuervergehens in den Knast wanderte und überzeugt davon ist, daß ihm jemand ans Leben möchte. Für eine Million und mehr bieten ihm Stadtoberhaupt B. D. Huckins und Polizeichef Sid Fork Durango als Hort der Sicherheit und Zuflucht an. Und Adair bietet ihnen ein ungewöhnliches und durchaus profitables Zusatzgeschäft an. Wenig später beginnt das Morden."

"Missionary Stew" follows political fundraiser Draper Haere on a quest to uncover the secret behind a right-wing coup in an unnamed Central american country. Haere seeks the information in order to get dirt on his boss's opponent in the 1984 US Presidential election. Haere's pursuit of the truth repeatedly puts Haere's life in danger, as the powers-that-be stop at nothing to keep the episode buried. Along the way, Haere carries on an affair with the wife of his candidate and enlists the aid of Morgan Citron, an almost-Pullitzer winning journalist who has recently been released from an African prison where the prisoners where fed human flesh--the titular missionary stew. Together Citron and Haere face up against cocaine traffickers, Latin American generals, corrupt US officials, and Citron's estranged, tabloid-publisher mother.

Benjamin Dill's search for the car-bomb murderer of his sister, a detective, brings him up against friends-turned-enemies, corrupt cops, greedy politicians, and beautiful Anna Maude, in a new edition of the Edgar Award-winning novel. Reprint.

Charged with delivering five million dollars to a Philippine terrorist, Booth Stallings enlists a team of assistants to help perform the important job, but the group decides to steal the money, instead. Reprint.

An old-school Southerner is recruited to run a political campaign in a dangerous African electionClinton Shartelle doesn't seem like a good choice to run a political campaign in Albertia. For one thing, he's American, and Albertia is a small coastal republic in Africa, about to be cut loose from the English Crown. For another, Shartelle is Southern and fiercely proud of it, and his ideas about racial politics veer unpredictably from progressive to rigidly old-fashioned. But Shartelle is the best, and the political future of Albertia is too important to be left to anyone else. If history is any indication, this first fair election will probably be the country's last. Rich natural resources make it attractive to businessmen on both sides of the Atlantic, opening Albertia up to political corruption. For his part, Shartelle is hired to make sure that a British industrialist's favored candidate wins the presidency. But the opposition is backed by the CIA, for whom murder is just another political tool.

Artie Wu und Quincy Durant, zwei ehemalige Waisenkinder, die ihre Lektion gelernt haben, leben am Strand von Malibu, Kalifornien. Als Artie Wu beim Joggen über einen toten Pelikan stolpert, haben die beiden kurz darauf den Millionär Randall Piers und seine nymphomane Frau im Haus. Die Ermittler verstricken sich bald in einem Netz aus offenen Rechnungen und alten Versprechen, geknüpft von den schmutzigen Fingern der Mafia und CIA ...