When Denson undertakes to clear a Washington State client of a small-time marijuana charge, he finds himself in spotted owl country; that tiny denizen of first-growth timber is up against the logging industry. What will it be: endangerment of a species, or the loss of thousands of jobs? Now a spotted owl is found murdered—strangled, to be precise. Denson's sometime partner Willie Prettybird, a Cowlitz Indian who may or may not be a shaman, tells Denson that the Spirit Animals want him to investigate the killing, and things get cosmic. Especially since the corpus delecti seems to have been misplaced. Beautiful Jennie Maclvar, of the Fish and Wildlife Service, saw the dead owl before it vanished—and is determined to find the killer. But then she is murdered. Her death hits Denson right in the heart. What seemed a simple little marijuana case turns into a hunt for a vicious killer who may have targeted Denson himself as the next victim.... RICHARD HOYT'S John Denson Mysteries are "sophisticated, well-written and excellent examples of the genre" (The New York Times). Now John Denson faces the toughest challenge of his career....
Terrorist murder—in the world's most popular sport! "A FINE BOOK . . . Hoyt has a fresh invigorating style that grabs the reader immediately."—The New York Times Millions watch breathlessly as the World Cup, soccer's premier tournament, opens to a triumphant reception in cities throughout the United States. Some players will go home as champions, others in ignominious defeat. And some will not return at all. "AN ACTION-PACKED THRILLER OF THE HIGHEST ORDER. The writing is taut, the pace doesn't stop, and you don't have to be a sports fan to go for this one . . . Anyone who remembers the Munich Olympics will be swept away by the plausibility of the story." —Romantic Times "The author has even devised a method of murder never before used in the history of crime fiction." —The New York Times "Freelancing under the delightfully ridiculous nom de guerre of Major Sid Khartoum, James Burlane is hired by the governing body of world soccer to stop a terrorist who is whacking star players . . . WONDERFULLY QUIRKY . . . A TERRIFIC READ." —Booklist
“Richard Hoyt is an expert writer.” —The New York Times If his plan worked, he would bring Russia to its knees. But if he failed . . . When poet lsaak Ginsburg innocently asks Soviet authorities for permission to emigrate, he is sent instead to a Siberian work camp. After two inhuman years, he is released . . . seemingly a model of reform. But Ginsburg has a plot for revenge . . . a devious, bizarre plan which could bring the Soviet government to its knees. With the help of the beautiful wife of a Russian diplomat, a group of dissident Estonians, residents of a cancer, clinic—and unconventional CIA agent James Burlane—Ginsburg puts his plan into action. For one year's open emigration from Soviet bloc countries, he plans to steal—and ransom—Russia's most precious national relic . . . the Head of State. “Madcap Marxist suspense . . . shows Hoyt in his best form. Ginsburg has far more weight and dignity than is common to a thriller.” —Kirkus Reviews “HEAD OF STATE conducts the suspense novel at a new level of literacy . . . ingenious and forceful.” —Brian O'Doherty
A JAMES BURLANE THRILLER It is a strange case of history repeating itself and international relations making strange bedfellows in Richard Hoyt's comic thriller, Trotsky's Run. In this funny, gripping, and tongue-in-cheek look at spy versus spy, two CIA agents form an unusual partnership to unravel and forestall what appears to be the horrifying inevitability that the next President of the United States will be a KGB agent. Ex-Russian mole Kim Philby begs to be rescued from the Soviet Union. A CIA deskman ends up in Yalta. Leon Trotsky visits a Manhattan massage parlor. And all the while, the Americans and Russians exchange gambits, as a mysterious third party always looks on. From the man who turned a beardless Fidel Castro loose in New York City in The Manna Enzyme, here is Trotsky s Run, appalling, outrageous, black comedy at its best.
Fifty years ago, General Douglas MacArthur permitted General Tomayuki Yamashita to be executed for alleged war crimes. Determined to clear his name, Yamashita's granddaughter unravels a secret pact between Emperor Hirohito and MacArthur.
The story of a strange love triangle involving Jim Quint, a reporter who wrote widely on the antiwar movement during the Vietnamese Conflict, Colonel Del Lambert, Westmoreland's chief of intelligence in Vietnam, and his beautiful young Vietnamese wife, Vivienne.
IN MIAMI, THEY CALL THE DRUG TRADE MARIMBA "A superior [thriller] . . . with an amoral family that will chill the blood . . .double-dealing federal drug agents and nonstop action . . ." —The New York Times "[In] Hoyt's supercharged new thriller . . . James Burlane, ex-CIA man now working freelance for a high level government investigative committee, is on the surface the ultimate marimbeiro, a wild-haired, wok-toting adventurer with only a backpack to his name . . . Hoyt . . . knows the political intricacies of the drug trade and its roots in Central America. He knows Miami, down to the . . . warm night breezes. He also knows how to construct a thriller. MARIMBA is a wild ride into Carl Hiaasen territory, dark and nasty, with a dose of . . . casual evil added to the mix . . . "Expert storytelling."—George Pelecanos, Washington Post Book World
“SIEGE is a welcome find, the characters cleverly drawn . . . It is cynical, humorous, violent, and Byzantine. In other words., it admirably reflects the current world state of affairs.” —Baltimore Sun A PIECE OF THE ROCK Gibraltar-there's no way it can be taken, it's impregnable. Until a group of terrorists infiltrate the stronghold and take the 20,000 British subjects hostage. Freeing them becomes the job of the CIA's James Burlane and Ella Nidech. They get a lot of help they don't need and some they may not be able to do without: After all, as long as the apes remain on Gibraltar, the English will rule.... "Wonderfully entertaining" —St. Louis Post-Dispatch "Smooth and fast . . . Accomplished juggler that he is, Hoyt keeps everything in the air and in suspense to a slam-dunk finish!” —Seattle Times-Post-Intelligencer "Well written, delightful . . . shouldn't be missed. Enthusiastically recommended" —Library Journal "Pure fun from beginning to end!” —United Press International
Strange doings: European jumping horses have died mysteriously. Now prime Spanish mustang stallions are being killed all over the West. A beautiful young television newswoman is chasing the story, and some weirdo is posting obscene clues on the net. John Denson, Annie Dancer, and Willie Sees the Night are retained to find the horse killers. Denson prefers logic, Annie her computer skills, and they share a lively bed. The shaman Willie reaches beyond reason: He again sends Denson flying into mysterious realms to find the truth. Are the animal spirits Denson sees real? Has Willie Sees the Night been fighting the shape-changing Koonran since the beginning of time? Is this the true source of all evil? Or is the monster part of us all, coursing through our blood? Pony Girls is John Denson's wildest adventure.
Soft-boiled Seattle sleuth John Denson, first introduced in Decoys, is hot on the trail of crime once again in this second Denson mystery. 30 for a Harry takes its inspiration from a bit of newspaper lore—the legend of Harry Karafin, who after three decades on The Philadelphia Inquirer was exposed for using his position as an investigative reporter to blackmail area businessmen. Drawing on his own background as a former intelligence agent and newspaper reporter, Richard Hoyt sends Detective Denson undercover at the Seattle Star to search for the paper’s own ‘harry.’ In his search, Denson confronts the dark underbelly of the newspaper world, where honored traditions of truth and fairness are destroyed by greed and the quest for power. Filled with unexpected plot twists and offbeat characters, this first-rate detective yarn will keep you guessing until the final pages.
In The Weatherman's Daughters, Richard Hoyt returns to his highly acclaimed John Denson mystery series with a natty new twist. Frustrated by his inability to trace a criminal monster, Denson sets down his skepticism and accepts, provisionally, the shamanistic ways of his Native partner, Willie Prettybird. Out-of-body flying? Entering the spirit of an animal? Can it be true? Can Denson solve murders by playing Carlos Castaneda to Willie's Don Juan? Two daughters of a Portland weatherman have been killed for no apparent reason. Denson and Willie are called from their remote cabins on Whorehouse meadow in the Cascade Mountains to help. But for once Denson is stumped-this is a trail he can't seem to follow. An exotic dancer wants to join the investigation, and Denson cannot resist her. But does she really intend to help? Or is she a spy or saboteur? Willie offers Denson a challenge. Since your rational ways aren't working, open the door to shamanism. Leave your body and seek to join the spirit of an animal who might be a guide. Fearing that he will never come back, Denson takes the risk. The trail revealed smells of bear galls, ancient Chinese medicine, and right-wing malcontents. Denson, the tracker, is profoundly changed by his discoveries. At the publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.
At the 1852 Christmas party hosted by Tsar Nicholas I, the plucky half-Chinese, half-Russian poet Sonja Sankova decks Peter "Colonel Cut" Koslov, who is infamous for his necklace of ears taken from serfs and Jews. In London that same night, American Jack Sandt, the Matthew Brady of Asia, conspires with Karl Marx to con the tsar into letting him take daguerreotype images inside Russia. So begins this immaculately researched, wildest of romantic wild rides, an odyssey of two lovers fleeing for their lives through the vast reaches of the Russian empire. The period details are splendid: a supper with Ivan Turgenev; a visit with the craftsmen who designed and cut gems for the Romanov tsars, a ball in a frontier town in the Urals, a glimpse of life inside the yurts of nomadic herdsmen. With Koslov and his special unit, the Wolfpack, in hot pursuit, Sonja and Jack flee St. Petersburg, cross European Russia, and go down the Urals, there risking their lives on a turbulent mountain river. Sonja and Jack take turns telling their story, as they fall in love and marry in a Siberian chapel. In a narrow escape, Jack shoots Koslov in the ankle. A sadistic Kyrghyz nomad grabs Sonja and spirits her away. Jack and a Cossack pursue the nomad and his men across the Asian steppe, but Koslov gets to him first. Koslov takes Sonja to a fabled mountain near Lake Baikal, where he is to retrieve rubies destined for a new Romanov throne. He waits, vowing revenge for his stiff ankle. Jack rescues his wife, and with their lives and a fortune of rubies at stake---and real wolves howling in a blizzard---Sonja and Jack face down Colonel Cut and the Wolfpack.
“Cultural shock measuring 9.5 on the Richter scale . . .A SEARING, FAST-MOVING, SOPHISTICATED book, full of action and social comment.”—The New York Times Book Review Shoji Kobayashi, owner of the Yokohama Bay Stars baseball team and godfather to the Japanese mob buys a beautiful woman from Filipino pirates. When he discovers that the woman is the daughter of the Vice President of the United States, he uses her to upset ongoing trade negotiations with the U.S., but the Vice President has a hired ace up his sleeve, ex-CIA assassin James Burlane. "The daughter of the U.S. Vice President is kidnapped in the Philippines and sold to the yakuza as a sex slave. When the gangsters learn who she is, they attempt to blackmail the U.S. into softening its stance in trade negotiations. Enter maverick former CIA agent James Burlane, who, after examining each country's approach to baseball, decides that hardball is the only game the kidnappers will understand. Hoyt fans . . . will ask for Japanese Game."—Booklist A novel of suspense and “three age-old Japanese cultural traditions: trade protectionism, white slavery, and baseball . . . IRRESISTIBLY ENJOYABLE.”—Kirkus Reviews "SNAPPY, FAST-PACED . . . James Burlane is SLICK, TOUGH AND LETHAL . . . Hoyt is an ADROIT AND ZESTFUL writer."—Minneapolis Star-Tribune "Richard Hoyt has FUN . . . VERY WELL WRITTEN and will hold your attention from the start." — The New York Times Book Review "SUSPENSEFUL AND WELL-PACED."—Library Journal
A JOHN DENSON MYSTERY Private Detective John Denson believes in logic. He does not believe in Bigfoot. But when he and Willie Prettybird, his sometime partner who may or may not be a shaman, are hired to help a beautiful Russian scientist Dr.Sonja Popoleyev, in her search for the legendary sasquatch, a $100,000 reward persuades him to suspend his disbelief. In the Northwest Bigfoot is big business. Their competition: David Addison, land developer, Professor Bonduraunt of the British Museum, Alford and Elford Pollard, local bigfoot hunters, Roger Whitcomb, network personality, and a group of Canadian mountain climbers. Before the expedition can begin, Elford is murdered. With cold hard cash on the line, the searchers are soon scrambling for traces of the elusive creature. But the murderer isn't finished yet, and Denson and his party are on the endangered species list. Richard Hoyt's John Denson Mysteries are "sophisticated, well written examples of the genre" (The New York Times). Now John Denson faces his deadliest challenge yet...
"A pleasure to read....Hoyt offers a fascinating guided tour of the Asian black market in bones and other parts of endangered species."—The Washington Post In the forests of the world, the mighty tiger is disappearing. A symbol of virility and power, its bones are a principal ingredient in traditional homeopathic medicines—and worth hundreds of dollars per pound on the Asian black market. The latest threat to these magnificent creatures is a well-organized profiteering ring that is trying to corner the market on tiger parts by systematically exterminating all wild tigers. Western diplomatic efforts and economic sanctions have failed laughably against simple human greed and indifference. Bribery and corruption are rampant, leaving CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) desperately fighting for a lost cause. But when the law falls short of justice, there are men like James Burlane, of Mixed Enterprises, a former CIA agent who specializes in delicate international cases. Following leads from Germany all the way to the Philippines, Burlane finds he is not just up against poachers. A killer of women stalks the night, with a twisted fire in his eyes, sensuously painting his naked victims in the buff-orange and luscious black stripes of the tiger before his dread hand seizes the knife. "Hoyt has a fresh, invigorating style that grabs the reader immediately. He is a master."—The New York Times "[Tyger! Tyger!] divides the world into predators and prey, into those who eat and those who go hungry. The raffish story pricks our consciences about issues for which there may be no solution but compassion—and curbing our appetites."—Portland Oregonian
A JOHN DENSON MYSTERY John Denson, the Seattle private eye with a taste for screw-top wine and beautiful women, and his partner, Willie Prettybird, a shaman of the Cowlitz tribe, are up against their deadliest case: an engineered outbreak of anthrax in the Pacific Northwest that may kill hundreds of people, including John and Willie—unless they can locate the villain who's spreading the disease. Once tobacco-chewing cattle baron Monty Hook calls in the fearsome duo, the list of suspects balloons: what of the rodeo cowboy determined to strut his stuff at Chief Joseph Days this weekend, or the gorgeous barkeep with a roving eye, or the ancient but spry teacher intent on enjoying this week's reunion of her old high-school students? And what of the chief of police himself—not to mention the televangelist Hamm Bonnerton, in town for some quick fund-raising? One of them's playing liar's dice, and coming up snake eyes. And killing people...
John Denson has always admired the classic hardboiled detectives Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe, but in his own private-eye work he is more of a soft-boiled sleuth—favoring screw-top wines and refusing to carry a gun. The moment Pamela Yew walks into Denson’s office and introduces herself as a detective working for Coyote, the San Francisco Prostitutes Union, he is beguiled by her beauty and he quickly agrees to help her hunt for a homicidal pimp. The pimp, it seems, is hiding in Cayuse, Oregon, which just happens to be Denson’s home town. All Denson has to do is act as Pamela’s decoy by introducing her as his fiancée while she goes about her business. Once he arrives home, though, Denson finds that Pamela Yew is working on a far more deadly game than vengeance—and that he is being used as more than an innocent decoy.
Chinese Communists plan to take the American capital markets for half a billion dollars under the counter. In a superbly complex plan involving the offer of Chinese state secrets to the CIA, agents Ella Nidech and James Burlane must turn the affair to the advantage of the U.S. "A wildly wicked yarn about Asian politics, power and high finance. It's worth ten routine cloak-and-swagger dramas." —New York Daily News "Damned near perfect." —Kirkus Reviews
THE AUTHOR OF THE CRITICALLY-ACCLAIMED JOHN DENSON PACIFIC NORTHWEST MYSTERIES INTRODUCES JAKE HIPP, A MODERN-DAY HENRY DAVID THOREAU AS SLEUTH, AND HIS AMERICAN INDIAN PARTNER WILLOW BLACKWING. JAKE AND WILLOW PURSUE A GIRL WITH THE SAME ZEAL THAT DIGITAL BRAINS ARE KILLING PAPER BOOKS. "Hoyt has a fresh, invigorating style that grabs the reader immediately.He is a master."-The New York Times "Hoyt is an adroit and zestful writer."-MinneapolisStar-Tribune "Hoyt is a delight to discover and a treat to read."-Library Journal RICHARD HOYT LEAVES HIS CRITICALLY-ACCLAIMED JOHN DENSON MYSTERIES BEHIND, CREATING AN EVEN MORE ENGAGING SLEUTH, THE PHILOSOPHICAL POTHEAD JAKE HIPP AND HIS AMERICAN INDIAN PARTNER WILLOW BLACKWING, A HACKER AND TOURNAMENT ARCHER. WILLOW CLAIMS TO BE RAVEN, A MYTHICAL SHAPE-CHANGING TRICKSTER. WILLOW IS TRYING TO RECOVER HER POWERS AS RAVEN, LOST WHEN SHE WENT TO WORK FOR THE GOVERNMENT. AS JAKE COMES UPON CROWS FEEDING ON THE BODY OF A YOUNG WOMAN, A MECHANICAL CROW FIRING .22 BULLETS TRIES TO KILL HIM. THE GIRL'S FATHER HIRES JAKE TO FIND HIS DAUGHTER'S MURDERER. AS THE LAID-BACK JAKE AND CLEVER WILLOW PURSUE THE MURDERER, THEY THEMSELVES ARE ATTACKED. WE LEARN ALL MANNER OF CROW LORE. AS JAKE AND WILLOW PEEL AWAY LAYERS OF THE MYSTERY, WE SLOWLY UNDERSTAND THAT CROW'S MIND IS METAPHOR FOR SOMETHING LARGER: TECHNOLOGY THAT IS KILLING US IN NUMEROUS WAYS INCLUDING THE SERIAL MURDER OF PAPER NOVELS. "Crow's Mind is an extraordinary effort, cleverly written and filled scenes that will have his readers laughing out loud...You won't find many private investigators as richly imagined and with a story packed with as many colorful characters as this one."-Jack Hart, author of Skookum Summer, a novel of the Pacific Northwest. "Crow's Mind is smart, literate, funny and a heart-pounding mystery...Mystery fans and readers who like unusual stories, American Indian mythology and colorful characters won't want to miss this one."-Katherine Dunn, author of Geek Love, nominated for the National Book Award
One of the hottest mystery and suspense novelists to come down the gunbarrel in a decade." —Oregon Magazine The clearest, coldest waters imaginable are found in Oregon's North Umpqua river in springtime. Here, ex-intelligence agent John Denson goes to hook steelhead trout. Instead, he finds himself entangled in a deadly net of international intrigue and conspiracy. To free himself, he will need all of his ingenuity and resourcefulness. He will also need a whole lot of luck just to stay alive. From the best-selling author of TROTSKY'S RUN "A pace as swift as the Umpqua." —Publishers Weekly "Nicely done." —Houston Chronicle "The Denson books... sophisticated, well-written and excellent examples of the genre."—The New York Times Book Review
October in Seattle—a dreary, drizzly time of year, and it doesn't help that private eye John Denson’s favorite hangout, the Pig’s Alley, is being converted into a fey French restaurant. Things are worse for Denson’s good friend and darts partner Willie Prettybird. A salmon fisherman by trade, in business with his brother Rodney, Willie is nervous about a lawsuit they've brought to gain treaty fishing rights for the Cowlitz Indian tribe, an action that has made the Prettybirds a few powerful enemies among the sport and commercial fishing interests, notably Foxx Jensen and Doug Egan. What worries Willie even more is that somebody is threatening his pretty sister Melinda, by beating up her boyfriends. Denson volunteers to look into Melinda's problem, which at first seems a simple case of a jealous ex-husband, though Mike Stark doesn't really fit the part. But when the federal judge in the Cowlitz suit is reported missing, and when neatly butchered cuts of human flesh begin mysteriously to turn up in a downtown park, Denson realizes he's cast his net into deep and dangerous waters. The Seattle police hope that a sophisticated computerized scanner trained on the park vicinity will discover case-breaking evidence. Denson, his methods less fancy, pursues his own unconventional course, helped on his offbeat way by a motley ensemble: a beautiful and brainy lawyer; a renegade cop with a grudge, and the wacky owner of Juantar’s Doie Bar, Denson’s new home away from home. It is a case full of fish stories, and Denson’s job is to find out who the liars are. With a shocking climax set in a spooky labyrinth underneath Seattle's sidewalks, it is surely the grisliest and most bizarre case of John Denson’s eccentric career. "The Denson books...sophisticated, well-written and excellent examples of the genre."—The New York Times Book Review
At the behest of the president of the United States, ex-CIA agent James Burlane returns to the world of high-level intrigue to discover who perpetrated a deadly attack on the House of Representatives that left more than one hundred members of Congress and their staff wounded or dead.
Thank you for visiting our website. Would you like to provide feedback on how we could improve your experience?
This site does not use any third party cookies with one exception — it uses cookies from Google to deliver its services and to analyze traffic.Learn More.