FICTION / Mystery & Detective / General

Hollywood, 1934. Prohibition is finally over, but there is still plenty of crime for an ambitious young private eye to investigate. Though he has a slightly checkered past, Riley Fitzhugh is well connected in the film industry and is hired by a major producer—whose lovely girlfriend has disappeared. He also is hired to recover a stolen Monet, a crime that results in two murders initially, with more to come. Along the way, Riley investigates the gambling ships anchored off LA, gets involved with the girlfriend of the gangster running one of the ships, and disposes of the body of a would-be actor who assaults Riley’s girlfriend. He also meets an elegant English art history professor from UCLA who helps Riley authenticate several paintings and determine which ones are forgeries. Riley lives at the Garden of Allah Hotel, the favorite watering place of screenwriters, and he meets and unknowingly assists many...

Hollywood in the Thirties: Nazi saboteurs, gangsters running gambling ships, British spies and diplomats, FBI agents, starlets looking for the big break, cheap hustlers on the fringes of the law, local cops—some are friends and some are adversaries, but all are involved somehow with Riley Fitzhugh, a private eye who’s wondering whether the death of an English aristocrat really was an accident.

The eve of World War II. A Hollywood producer’s murdered wife. Her husband’s guilty memory of a shipboard romance. A stolen painting signed “Picasso.” French gangsters. A beautiful courtesan. A shoot-out in a brasserie. All these and more confront Private Detective Riley Fitzhugh as he travels from Hollywood to the Riviera, Paris, and London in search of his client’s vanished dream girl and some answers. Is the painting a genuine Picasso or just a clever forgery? Who is responsible for the corpses that keep littering his path and complicating the investigation? And whatever happened to Amanda Billingsgate?

Fast-talking gem expert Lonny Cushman encounters the dangerous and malevolent world.

Respected political leader Harry Tresmayne has been found murdered beside a lonely road on Cape Fear. Harry's friend, Matthew Livesey, is drawn to investigate the truth, and the more Livesey learns...

The discovery of an abandoned Spanish merchant ship off the coast of America plunges Harry Ludlow into a far-reaching conspiracy fueled by jealousy, ambition, and nationalistic fervor.

The long-awaited return of the Bucephalas to the safety of the Cinque Ports is interrupted by a disastrous engagement in the Channel. The looming shape of a merchantman becalmed in fog presents an almost irresistible allure. But for Harry Ludlow and his battle-weary crew, the pursuit of one last easy prize leads to a desperate fight.

1795: When his crew is illegally pressed into the Royal Navy by the vicious Captain Toner, Harry sets off in pursuit of Toner's ship. Toner reaches the West Indies with Harry close behind and they sail into a maelstrom of piracy, corruption, and murder.

1794: Returning to England, Harry and James become embroiled in a vicious struggle between rival smugglers played out in the English Channel.

1793: Privateer Harry Ludlow finds himself aboard the navy's 74-gun Magnanime, with his younger brother James. In command is Oliver Carter, a captain with whom Harry has an unfortunate history. When James is found standing over the body of a dead officer, Harry's feud shifts into the background. But dark secrets start to surface on all sides.

1794: Arriving in the squalid port of Genoa, Harry and James find a tinderbox of tension, fed by the discovery of a hanged English sea captain and packs of English and French sailors at each other's throats.