Ross Thomas

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.

Briarpatch

The Porkchoppers

"Hain't we got all the fools in town on our side? And ain't that a big enough majority in any town?" -- Mark Twain Ross Thomas chose the quotation from Huckleberry Finn as the text of his post World War II story as well as for the title. When Lucifer Dye is released from three months in a Hong Kong prison, debriefed, handed a false passport, a new wardrobe and a $20,000 check, his haughty control makes it clear that Dye's career with his country has been permanently terminated. But a good agent is always in demand, and just a few hours later Dye is being interviewed for a highly ingenious position. Victor Orcutt, although a not very good imitation of a British pre-war gent, has creative talents of his own. He has his sights a small southern city, with the ordinary run-of-the-mill corruption one would expect in such a place. The canny Orcott knows there's no profit in that . His creed is "To get better, it must be much worse." He and his two associates have looked up Dye's history, and he now offers the ex-spy's a mission. For two and a half times the government's bounty, Dye is to thoroughly corrupt the town. And the sly Dye takes the offer.

The Fools in Town Are on Our Side

Yellow-Dog Contract

Cast a Yellow Shadow

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.

Missionary Stew

ein Artie-Wu-und-Quincy-Durant-Fall ; [Thriller]

Umweg zur Hölle

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.

Out on the Rim

Roman

Gottes vergessene Stadt

If You Can't Be Good

Ein Philip-St.-Ives-Roman

Der Messingdeal

At the height of the Cold War, two Americans are runnng a bar in the West German capital, called Mac's place. One of the pair, Michael Padillo, isn't around a lot; he keeps disappearing on "business trips." McCorkle, his partner, wisely doesn't ask questions; he knows Padillo has a second job -- he's a (reluctant) US agent. But McCorkle is ready to answer a call for help from Padillo, and he joins his friend in a blind journey with no inkling of what they will encounter at the turn of each dark and dangerous corner.

The Cold War Swap

An old friend draws barman Mac McCorkle into a deadly international game. As the saying goes, you can't pick your friends. If you could, Mac McCorkle would disown Padilla. They owned a bar together in Bonn, the West German capital, and stayed partners even after Padilla's sideline as a CIA operative got the bar blown up. Padilla was thought to be dead and erased from the CIA's files -- but now he's back on the agency's turf. Mac moved to Washington, DC, after the trouble in Bonn to get married and open his bar anew. His new bride is beautiful, the bar is a success, and Padilla's reappearance threatens everything. A group of African terrorists want Padilla to assassinate the prime minister of their small sub-Saharan republic -- and they've kidnapped Mac's wife to use as leverage.

"Anyone reading a Ross Thomas thriller for the first time is in imminent danger of addiction: One taste is never enough." - Los Angeles Times In Twilight at Mac's Place, the quiet death of an aged spy triggers a desperate race to control his memoirs, which threaten to reveal Cold War secrets many would prefer stayed secrets. When the spy's estranged son receives the then dizzying sum of $100,000 for all rights to the work, he is properly dizzied. He is also smart enough to seek the help of veteran Cold Warriors McCorkle and Padillo, owners of a D.C. bar called Mac's Place that is both a capital landmark and a nest of intrigue.

A McCorkle and Padillo Mystery

Twilight at Mac's Place

First in the series from an Edgar Award–winning author of “stylish, well-told suspense novels enlivened with a dash of wit” (The New York Times). Philip St. Ives is the kind of man who can convince a vice cop and a paroled mobster to sit down to a hand of poker. Once he was a reporter with a daily column, a fat Rolodex, and a reputation for indifference to criminal behavior. Now he is a go-between, a professional mediator between thieves and the people they rip off. For arranging the recovery of a stolen necklace, painting, or child, St. Ives takes ten percent of the ransom. His work takes him across the globe, but more importantly, it pays his alimony. An African warrior’s shield has come to Washington, where a gang of art-minded burglars pluck it from the museum. They demand $250,000 for the return of the priceless artifact, and request that St. Ives make the hand-off. But when he goes to deliver the cash, he finds himself playing a more deadly game than five-card draw.

The Brass Go-Between

Washington in den 1970er-Jahren. Aus der Kongressbibliothek ist eine seltene fünfhundert Jahre alte Erstausgabe spurlos verschwunden – und mit ihr Jack Marsh, der beste Privatdetektiv der ganzen Westküste, der das wertvolle Buch nach Kalifornien schaffen sollte. Ein Fall für Philip St. Ives: Der pokernde Dandy in chronischer Geldnot und professionelle Vermittler zwischen Gaunern und Gesetz soll das Buch und Marsh für 250 000 Dollar freikaufen, doch irgendjemand spielt ein falsches Spiel. Die amerikanische Originalausgabe "No Questions Asked" erschien 1976 unter Ross Thomas' Pseudonym Oliver Bleeck.

Ein Philip-St. Ives-Fall

Keine weiteren Fragen

""It was while jogging along the beach just east of the Paradise Cove pier that Artie Wu tripped over a dead pelican, fell, and met the man with six greyhounds."""- "from "Chinaman's Chance" Thus begins what may be the most popular of Ross Thomas's unique stories. The combination of Wu, pretender to the Imperial throne of China, and Quincy Durant, who has his own colorful past, makes for a heady experience. After starting with the deceased pelican on a California beach, the plot mixes in the disappearance of a large sum of money that should have been buried in Vietnam, and the search for the missing member of a trio of singing sisters from the Ozarks. Only Thomas could have stirred this concoction with the style, humor, and suspense that captures the reader at the very beginning and doesn't let go until the last word.

Chinaman's Chance

A stuntman searches for a colleague whom he thought he killed long ago. Two pirates do battle on an old junk ship in Singapore Harbor. They leap nimbly from deck to rigging, crossing swords like fencing masters. And then one surprises the other, slicing a rope and sending the unfortunate pirate tumbling into the bay. This is how stuntman Angelo Sacchetti dies. Edward Cauthorne was his opponent, a fellow stuntman whose career died along with Sacchetti. He's selling used cars when two thugs approach him. They're emissaries from Sacchetti's godfather, a Mafia don. Sacchetti is alive after all -- alive enough to be blackmailing the don -- and they firmly request that Cauthorne find him. The search takes Cauthorne back to Singapore, to risk his own life for the sake of the man he thought he'd killed.

The Singapore Wink

Providing protection to a former state supreme court justice who had been framed for bribery, the California Fourth Durango team is up to their eyeballs in trouble when the judge's history clashes with that of Durango's. Reprint. 15,000 first printing.

The Fourth Durango

Bearbeitete Neuausgabe. Der dicke Chinese Artie Wu, sein Geschäftspartner Quincy Durant, der Hochstapler "Otherguy" Overby, der alternde Terrorismusexperte Booth Stalling und die mit allen Wassern gewaschene Ex-Agentin Georgia Blue, das sind die Protagonisten des dritten und letzten Artie-Wu-und-Quincy-Durant-Falls. "Die Wudu, Ltd. ist eine straff geführte Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung, die für andere das tut, was sie selbst für sich nicht tun können", sagt Artie Wu, Chef der exklusiven Agentur Wudu, Ltd. Mit anderen Worten, sie lösen Fälle für einen Haufen Kohle - Fälle wie den Mord an dem Hollywood-Produzenten Billy Rice. Am Neujahrsmorgen 1991 wird die Film-Diva Ione Gamble volltrunken und mit abgefeuerter Tatwaffe in der Hand neben der Leiche ihres millionenschweren Ex-Verlobten aufgefunden. Vor dem Hintergrund des ersten Irakkriegs beginnt das Spezialistenteam Wudu, Ltd. mit seinen Ermittlungen.

Ross Thomas

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