GAMBOL IN VEGAS Formidable, lady-loving Jan Kokk, private investigator from Curacao, is at it again. This time Kokk finds himself babysitting a delegation of Curacaoan officials in Las Vegas there to win the lucrative Twin City title. The agreement would establish formal commercial and tourism links between Curacaos capital, Willemstad, and Fabulous Las Vegas. What Happens Here, Stays Here, is the Vegas credo. In Kokks case What Happens Here includes the murder of one of his delegation, three attempts on the life of a beautiful casino executive--whom Kokk promptly shelters--plus an attempt on Kokks own life. Solving crimes, safeguarding the Curacao delegation and--oh, yes--loving the beautiful lady--keeps our six foot four investigator on a Las Vegas-style roll. Viva Las Vegas!
It's 1966; a nasty war is raging in Vietnam and in the City Room of Seattle's favorite newspaper, the Post-Intelligencer. The battle is with its old archrival, the Seattle Times. The P-I has the edge on talent with writers like Frank Herbert, the science fiction author who would go on to write the Dune novels, and Tom Robbins, who created a new genre with Even Cowgirls Get the Blues and is now on the P-I copy desk writing headlines. Into this ever-growing pool of talent, the reporter-photographer team of twenty-five-year-old Rick Sangaster and World War II Marine Corps veteran and pure-blood Sioux Indian Hawkeye O'Sullivan are on the front line. Each of these men has problems from their pasts, as well as their present, but when it comes to reporting the news, or at times creating the news themselves, they're far ahead of their contemporaries in both the P-I City Room as well as the Times.
American college girl, Jean Scott, mysteriously disappears from the luxury hotel, shared with her fiance on the Caribbean island of Curacao, once a Dutch colony. The distraught fiance hires private investigator Jan Kokk to find his missing bride-to-be. In his inimical larger-than-life manner, robust, corsair Kokk finds the missing girl. He also discovers a drug trafficking connection between Curacao and Miami, intensified by two related murders, unheard of on lovely, idyllic Curacao.
A luxury cruise through the Antilles hosts a large political forum involving most of its vacationing passengers. Soon the political forum becomes fractious due to acrimony over restoring relations with Cuba. When a dissenting delegate is found stabbed in the back near the forum rostrum, two detectives--one a petite blonde from the cruise line, the other the inimitable Jan Kokk--begin hunting the killer among the now terrorized passengers. By the time the cruise ship reaches Curacao, Kokks home, a second passenger has been murdered and a female almost thrown overboard by the murderer. The two detectives succeed in identifying the killer but not until the fetching lady detective teaches Kokk a lesson in sleuthing--and romancing.
Jan Kokk, Curacaos brawny answer to Belgiums impeccable Hercule Poirot, is kidnapped by the scheming security officer--attractive female, of course--of an oil tanker plying the Caribbean. Kathlee hopes Kokk will discover who is murdering the ships twelve-man crew, one by one. Which of the crew is the murderer and why is he killing all his mates? The motive remains a mystery until the ship--minus crew--reaches Nicaraguas isolated Little Corn Island in the Caribbean. Kokks sleuthing fails to deter his interest in the lovely security officer, who just happens to be the daughter of the shipping companys president. Come aboard for another test of Jan Kokks skills, both detecting and doting.
In 1959 an earthquake in central Vancouver Island devastated the lakeside community of Pyrite Ridge. The seismic event triggered landslides that isolated the town and killed sixteen people, while a geological phenomenon known as a segue caused the lake to drop an astonishing 150 metres. Perched on the precipice of a yawning abyss and cut off from the world by tons of rubble, Pyrite Ridge became a place of myth and lore. After finding a newspaper attached to a red balloon that supposedly came from the town, Travis Sivart, an Air Force officer struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder, sets out to investigate the legend of Pyrite Ridge. After an arduous journey he stumbles upon the community, now known as The Segway, which is inhabited by an eclectic group of thirty people. Travis spends a week in the town, learning of its remarkable history and interacting with the unforgettable residents. Everyone has their own compelling tale of how they came to The Segway, creating an extraordinary tapestry that causes Travis to question his own sanity. Is there a connection between his personal demons and the tragic events of 1959? Life at the Precipice seamlessly blends fact, fiction, and popular science in a unique combination of drama and humor that will have readers wondering if the mysterious town of The Segway actually exists.
Roy Foster is one of the leaders of the iconoclastic generation of Irish historians. In this opinionated, entertaining book he examines how the Irish have written, understood, used, and misused their history over the past century. Foster argues that, over the centuries, Irish experience itself has been turned into story. He examines how and why the key moments of Ireland's past--the 1798 Rising, the Famine, the Celtic Revival, Easter 1916, the Troubles--have been worked into narratives, drawing on Ireland's powerful oral culture, on elements of myth, folklore, ghost stories and romance. The result of this constant reinterpretation is a shifting "Story of Ireland," complete with plot, drama, suspense, and revelation. Varied, surprising, and funny, the interlinked essays in The Irish Story examine the stories that people tell each other in Ireland and why. Foster provides an unsparing view of the way Irish history is manipulated for political ends and that Irish poverty and oppression is sentimentalized and packaged. He offers incisive readings of writers from Standish O'Grady to Trollope and Bowen; dissects the Irish government's commemoration of the 1798 uprising; and bitingly critiques the memoirs of Gerry Adams and Frank McCourt. Fittingly, as the acclaimed biographer of Yeats, Foster explores the poet's complex understanding of the Irish story--"the mystery play of devils and angels which we call our national history"--and warns of the dangers of turning Ireland into a historical theme park. The Irish Story will be hailed by some, attacked by others, but for all who care about Irish history and literature, it will be essential reading.
At the same time, the position of women in Irish society has been transformed, with the growth of feminism, a revolution in sexual attitudes, far more women in the work force, the ascendancy of President Mary Robinson, and the movement of women to front-rank Cabinet posts - all of which have put the position of Irish women ahead of that in many European nations." "Everyone curious about the recent past, the burgeoning present, and the unclear future of Ireland will want to read this book."--BOOK JACKET.
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