A favor for a friend puts San Diego private investigator Brig Ellis in contact with a real knockout. But the first time they meet, the specter of larceny hangs in the air like the stale scent of a cheap cigar. Before Ellis can decide to make a pass or make tracks, thugs turn his office into a veritable junk yard. He should try to find out why, but when money calls, he listens, and so he puts payback on hold.
Price range: $16.99 through $26.99
Hired by the black sheep of a dysfunctional dynasty, he agrees to retrieve the clan’s daughter from apparent involvement with Zapatista rebels in Mexico. A tale of two cities then ensues laden with hidden agendas, revelations, recriminations, mayhem, murder, and a violent conflict on the eight-thousand-foot cliffs of the Copper Canyon Railway. Before all the loose ends have been tied, Ellis is left to wonder if making friends, doing favors, unmasking foes, or extracting vulnerable heiresses are all, in one way or another, fools’ errands.
