WHEN YOU CHASE THE DEVIL, YOU RISK CATCHING HELL... The author of The Vatican Connection returns with a new thriller as homicide detective Harry Dymes investigates a murder-and uncovers an international conspiracy that threatens to unleash biological terror upon the world. THE SCIENTIST WANTS TO SURVIVE. One of Nicolai Tarasove's associates has just been brutally murdered in a San Francisco hotel. The scientist's past dealings have caught up with him-sending him on the run for his life. But he's not the only one running. THE RUSSIAN MOBSTER WANTS THE SCIENTIST. The killer is Boris Feliks, a Russian mobster whom the scientist double-crossed in a bio-weapons deal at the behest of the FBI. He's out for revenge. THE TERRORISTS WANT THE RUSSIAN MOBSTER. But Boris himself is being hunted by the Triad-the dreaded Chinese underground-who were planning to sell the deadly toxin to the North Koreans. They're out to save face. AND ONE COP WANTS THEM ALL. Caught in the cross fire between the FBI, the Russian mafia, and the Triad, Harry Dymes is out to stop the killing once and for all. And if he doesn't win this race, the whole world may lose....

"Someone is trying to ruin us. Junior and I have poked around but haven't come up with anything. Our attorney had someone look into it, but came up with nothing. I need a professional. A man with imagination, and guts. Your uncle says you're that kind of man. Can you help me, Mr. Polo?" It sounds like a fun-filled weekend in the country when Nick Polo's reporter friend Jane Tobin invites him up to Sonoma County for the gala opening of the Baroni Estates sparkling wine facility. But the festivities are soon over for Polo as Angelo Baroni, Sr., drags him away to enlist his professional assistance. Now semi-retired, Baroni has been able to hold his wine empire together through some tough times: prohibition, recessions, droughts, and foreign take-over attempts. But once again it's under attack, and now someone is upping the stakes to sabotage and arson. The suspects include Baroni's philandering son, his sharpshooting daughter-in-law, and Victor Mardesa, a former casino operator who was cold-shouldered out of Nevada by the mob. As the campaign progresses to kidnapping and murder, both Polo and Jane Tobin find their own lives at risk. And it's up to Polo to sort everything out before it's too late.

Polo leaves his San Francisco home base to do a favor for an old friend. It sounds simple enough: Fly to London to hand deliver a letter, a check, and a cassette tape to a distant cousin of Polo's friend Raymond Singh. With first-class plane tickets, a hefty expense account, and reservations at the Ritz, how can he refuse? Raymond's cousin Gurbeep Singh proves elusive, though, and in the process of tracking him down, the persistent detective runs into several nasty situations. As Polo delves deeper into Gurbeep's affairs, a dark picture emerges. Undeterred, he continues an investigation that takes him from London to San Francisco and Canada and into the vicious underworld of pornography, smuggling, kidnapping, and murder.

San Francisco private eye Nick Polo finds that there's more than one wild card in the deck when a high-stakes poker game pushes him into the investigation of some stolen paintings. Soon Polo is in an alphabet soup of law enforcement agencies: FBI, SFPD, even Interpol, as he tries to track down the artwork for its owner, financier Claude Martel. Complicating matters are Mattel's oversexed wife, his vindictive daughter, a resentful son, and a crooked private detective. Polo's job becomes more than just pleasing a client; he must recover the painting for the sake of his own skin. But can he do it before his luck runs out?

Nick Polo, the private detective whom readers last met in Polo's Ponies, has stooped to bodyguard work. Well, why not? All he has to do is "slosh around Pebble Beach a few hours and have the evenings to himself." He's guarding a writer named Jack Slate in Carmel-by-the-Sea, where Slate plans to play in, and Nick plans to watch, a big golf tournament. Slate has been receiving death threats. He is an investigative journalist, and right now he is onto something very hot indeed. Then Slate, and a stranger later identified as an FBI agent, die in the decidedly accidental crash of a small plane they had somewhat inexplicably taken up. Far from being over, Polo's job just begins with Slate's death. Slate's lawyer, who had hired Polo in the first place, wants Nick to get hold of the dead man's explosive manuscript before anyone else can. One delightful obstacle to Polo's try is a beautiful young woman named Vanilla.

Nick Polo-San Francisco-based, smart and slick private eye-has never been known to work strictly within the bounds of the law. So when Ron Dettman-president and owner of a powerful Silicon Valley corporation-is suspected of cheating his friends in a high-stakes poker game, Polo, who has had a few aces up his own sleeve at times, is called in to set up a sting operation. But Dettman's game is much larger than simple embezzlement, and the stakes much higher than those on any poker table. And by the time Polo figures that out, and realizes that he's in way over his head-it's too late to turn back. All he wants to do is get out alive.

A MAN IS KILLED ON A BEACH IN SPAIN. MISSING ARE HIS LAPTOP AND A SECRET DOCUMENT. THE LAPTOP CONTAINS MILITARY SOFTWARE THAT COULD CHANGE THE FACE OF WAR. THE DOCUMENT, CALLED THE PROFESSIO, CONTAINS A DECLARATION THAT COULD DESTROY THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. The man's wealthy Spanish family must recover both the laptop and the document-or risk losing everything. The U.S. Military wants the software to revolutionize the defense industry. Foreign powers want the Professio to blackmail the Church. And the Vatican wants the document back-by any means necessary. From their top secret intelligence force, the Exsequors, they've sent the perfect man-a tireless crusader who won't turn the other cheek. THE DAY OF RECKONING IS AT HAND...

EVERYONE KNOWS YOU KILLED YOUR WIFE... DIDN'T YOU? Your name is Robert Duran. You are an insurance investigator specializing in art fraud. You live with your beautiful, fabulously-wealthy wife in a magnificent house in San Francisco. Now your wife has vanished, believed to be dead. The police suspect you're involved. Your wife's family hopes you'll be arrested and found guilty. And the madman who has begun terrorizing you with threats and bizarre messages won't rest until he has executed his final, perfect moment of revenge... Filled with authentic detail and gritty, non-stop action, The Suspect is a roller-coaster ride of a thriller-a stunning tour de force from an acclaimed master of suspense.

There was no doubt about the murder weapon. You could see the outline of the horse's hooves... But that was the second murder. When San Francisco private investigator Nick Polo rejoins his date at the races after a rather prolonged trip to the men's room, the first thing she says is Are you feeling all right? And the second is Your zipper's undone. There is reason for both. Polo is not looking too well, and quite understandably. He'd just discovered the dead body of one of his Uncle Pee-Wee's employees, a small-time hood named Johnny Aiello, in one of the men's room stalls. Enough to make anyone forget to pull up his zipper. An even better reason for the smart, slick private eye's discomfort soon materializes: the police think that Solo, who has served some time for a less-than-egregious crime, may be Johnny's killer. So it doesn't look at all good when Nick goes out to keep an appointment with a prospective client and discovers yet another body-the client's-kicked to death by one of his own horses. It's clear the horse hadn't taken the initiative, and the cops choose to credit Polo. The odds are against Polo; the closer he comes to the real murderer, the higher they climb.

Entertainment critic and film noir author Carroll Quint gets a panicky call from his mother, former movie starlet Karen Kaas. Vicky Vandamn, a roommate of Karen's some thirty years ago when they worked at Talbot Studios, disappeared from Hollywood under mysterious circumstances. Now she's been found dead on her houseboat in nearby Sausalito, a reported suicide victim. Quint's mother is certain that Vicky, who was involved with a rough Hollywood crowd, was murdered. "Act like one of those private eyes in your book, dear, and find out who killed her." Quint tries to do just that, and soon finds himself tangled up with lazy cops, a paranoid PI, a billionaire former movie-studio head, and a Peeping Tom-who kept a very close eye on Vandamn. When all appears to be lost, Quint's mother comes up with a revealing old still photo and a clue involving Fred Astaire's hands that set Quint on a collision course with the murderer.

From the author of The Hunted and The Suspect comes a thrilling new novel set in the high-stakes world of art smuggling-where one man's past comes back to haunt him... THE OTHER EYE Ex-art thief Mark Martel is a new man. He has a great girlfriend, a new name, and a new life among the upper crust of San Francisco-thanks to the Witness Protection Program. But things are far from comfortable... Because Mark Martel is about to rediscover his roots. The New York mobster he testified against wants him to pay for his performance on the witness stand. He's offering half a million to whoever finds him. Martel's going to have to move fast and think fast-before he gets a lesson in retribution, starting with an eye for an eye...

WHEN YOU'RE IN THIS DEEP, THERE'S ONLY ONE THING TO DO... CASH OUT. HERE'S THE STORY: San Francisco bookie Billy Rossi is more than $300,000 short. Some Chinatown thugs beat it out of him and his girlfriend, Sherri the showgirl. But who could he report it to? Insurance companies? Cops? No. That's why he calls down-and-out ex-cop John "Tomb" Tomei. HERE'S THE DEAL: Tomb needs money. Billy needs help. All Tomb has to do is go after the thugs, find out why they're trying to push Billy into early retirement, and get the money back. Easy, right? HERE'S THE PROBLEM: Sherri has disappeared. And the only person Tomb can count on is the retired king of the Chinatown beat, crazy Red Vanes. But Red has his own psychotic idea about settling the score-and Tomb has to move fast before the high-powered Chinese gangster who wants both Tomb and Red dead gets his wish...

REVENGE WILL BE HIS MASTERPIECE When insurance investigator Robert Duran's wife, world-famous artist Anona Stack, succumbs to a terminal disease, his world is shattered. But when her body is stolen from the family crypt and the rosary beads she was buried with turn up in Duran's car, the nightmare really begins. Now suspected of murdering her, Duran is hounded by the police, rejected by Anona's family, and even subjected to violent attacks. If he doesn't find out who is behind these bizarre events he knows he will be destroyed. The secret must lie somewhere in his own work as a specialist in recovering stolen art and unmasking forgers-work that pitted him against criminals as brilliant and unpredictable as the artists they preyed on. For someone, somewhere, is putting the finishing touches to a conspiracy so deadly, so perfect, it's almost a work of art.

A master of suspense, Jerry Kennealy delivers a riveting thriller set on the dark side of the San Francisco streets, where innocence is bought and sold-and a young girl's life can slip through the cracks... Wanted by both sides of the law-and nowhere to run. THE HUNTED A bloody triple murder gives Maureen Connah her first taste of being a homicide inspector. It's up to her to track down a witness to the crime: a thirteen-year-old illegal Russian immigrant named Janna. But Janna is on the run-from powerful men who want what she unknowingly possesses: the secrets of an illicit international arms deal. As Maureen learns of the case's far-reaching consequences, she must battle the clock to find Janna-before a highly paid, highly armed assassin finds her...

Nick Polo's latest case finds him on familiar San Francisco turf where a Russian antiques dealer has hired him to locate Anna, the stunning holder of a valuable Mongol paitza-a dog tag of sorts-originally worn by Ogodie Khan. Using no more than a defunct phone number and a grainy photograph of Anna, Polo soon catches up with the paitza's guardian. But before he can bring Anna and the treasure to his client, a rival investigator who is also hunting for the paitza winds up on a U.S. Army Fort with a slit throat. To catch the murderer and retrieve the Mongol badge, Nick must out-maneuver a United States Park Police officer, tanning salon prostitutes, military intelligence agents, and a shady German Consulate attache.

Volunteering at a local soup kitchen, Polo gets to know Scratchy, a self-described "sidewalk architect." With a Food for Vets sign in hand, Scratchy spends his days at his "office," a freeway off-ramp in downtown San Francisco, where certain drivers are exceptionally generous. Scratchy asks Polo to check the license-plate numbers of the charitably-minded individuals, and Polo comes up with a multimillionaire shipowner and a mysterious ex-CIA agent. But before he can give Scratchy the information, the man is dead, the apparent victim of a hit-and-run. The police have little interest in the accidental death of a homeless man, so at the urging of the soup kitchen's operator, Father Tomasello, Polo decides to investigate. What he finds takes him up against the Dragon Head of the Chinese Mafia, whose connections with the shipping magnate and the ex-CIA agent threaten not only Polo, but his friends and family too.

It all begins when fellow P.I. John Henning is found dead, an ostensible suicide. In his will, Henning leaves half of his earthly possessions to Polo (the other half to the Catholic Church and Alcoholics Anonymous), and names Polo his executor. A Key leads Polo to a local bank and Henning's safety-deposit box, where he discovers a cache of "drops of oil," priceless Colombian emeralds. But where would Henning, a lone-wolf P.I., have gotten the money to buy such exotic jewels? And why would a recovering alcoholic choose to end his own life when it seemed to be on the upswing? With the assistance of local reporter Jane Tobin, his on-again, off-again lady friend, Polo begins a search for the answers that will explain Henning's death, a search that takes him to the home of a woman whom Polo suspects may have been one of Henning's last clients. There's only one problem, the woman is dead. That's one death too many for Polo, who is determined to catch the killer in a case sparked with Kennealy's special humor and intrigue, undoubtedly inspired by the author's own firsthand knowledge of the true professional investigator's trade.

Nick Polo-San Francisco-based, smart and slick private eye-sometimes bends the rules to get what he wants. But now he's in prison for bending the rules a bit too far, and he is given an ultimatum: The mayor of San Francisco is being blackmailed and no one can help her because even the cops may be involved. If Polo wants to get out of jail-and get his P.I. license back-he's got to find out who's behind the scam, stop it, and tell no one. His investigation takes him from the luxurious resort areas of Sonoma County to the dangerous drug-and-pornography underworld of San Francisco's inner city. His suspects range from the seediest petty criminals and hit men to the most powerful men in the municipal government. As the investigation intensifies, and the pieces fall into place, there becomes only one thing Polo is sure of: he'd gladly go back to jail-if he could only get there alive.

CARROLL QUINT is the entertainment critic for the San Francisco Bulletin. He doesn't earn a lot of money, but the job does give him a certain place in the city's after-dark world, and he loves seeing the newest play, or the newest movie, and writing about them for his readers. His job, however, gets harder for him to do when friends of his start showing up dead, each one in some way connected to the entertainment industry. Someone calling himself Thanatos, the Greek god of death, is sending him e-mails, taunting him with clues from Alfred Hitchcock movies regarding the next target. With each murder, the police become more suspicious of Quint, who they figure is sending the e-mails to himself. Quint must race to find the killer, but danger is closer to him than he realizes.

THE UNSTOPPABLE ASSASSIN Mary Ariza, a beautiful, savvy lawyer, knows all the ins and outs of the law and the lawless. Nothing that anyone can do and try to get away with can make her blink. But now, as she stops to help a man having a heart attack on the street, she unknowingly marks herself for death. Police Inspector Jack Kordic, a cops cop, has handled every rough assignment from rape and murder to blazing shoot-outs. But when he discovers that the headless, handless corpse floating in the icy Pacific is somehow linked to Mary Ariza, he is thrust into the same nightmare. What neither knows is that they have been pushed in the path of an international assassin they cannot see. Known as The Conductor, his mission is to kidnap a San Francisco billionaire, and to do so, he must commit a crime of unthinkable proportions. Mary Ariza and Jack Kordic are fatally in his way...