Karl Patterson, sometime baseball card dealer without visible means of support, doesn't get along all that well with his father, even though he lives in the guest house of his dad's estate on the Palos Verdes Peninsula near Los Angeles rent free. So he is surprised when Richard Patterson, who is founder and CEO of a successful software company called Dionysus, asks for his help to determine whether the number 2 man of Dionysus, Ned Mackay, has a gambling problem. Perhaps it's because Karl may or may not be a compulsive gambler, himself, depending on whom you ask.Richard assigns his executive assistant, the exotic and ambitious Arrow, to work with Karl. She appears to have some blood from every ethnic group you can name, and the best of each. She helps Karl connect with Ned, and Karl wangles an invitation to fly with him to San Francisco, which brings up the question of what Ned's relationship is to James Buchanan, a puzzling person who likes puzzles, runs what appears to be an illegal gambling casino, and is CEO of a San Francisco conglomerate that owns a piece of just about everything worth owning. Before Karl can make any progress, Ned is found dead in San Francisco with cocaine in his car.Karl is questioned by the San Francisco police, and now finds himself trying to determine what happened to Ned, and what effect this will have on his father and Dionysus. Questions about James remain, because he seems to want to gain control of Dionysus, and may help Karl buy an expensive baseball card.Events keep Karl involved long after his father wants him out. Before he's through, he'll be a frequent flyer between L.A. and San Francisco, with sidetrips to Scotland and England. He will have to learn how to work with Arrow, get along with Jacie, Richard's young wife, try to improve his relationship with his father, and--if he wants to survive--watch his back. After spending more than a quarter of a century as a pioneer in the computer industry, Alan Cook is well into his second career as a writer.ROCKY ROAD TO DENVERThe death of Roger McAllister's wife in 1984 prompts him to take a break from his accounting firm and join a walk from Los Angeles to Denver, sponsored by Zeus Shoes. The people he encounters will shake him out of his comfort zone, providing comedy, peril and sexual temptation. In addition, his dead wife appears to be keeping an eye on him. Roger's life will never be the same.DEATH AT MONKSREST--Charlie and Liz No. 3Liz Reid flies to England in the 1960s because of a poem about an ancient curse that her coworker, Charlie Ebersole, has sent her, which may have led to the murder of the sister of Charlie's English friend, Reggie, whose father is the owner of the hereditary estate of Monksrest. Liz works with Lord Wheatley to find clues in spite of the risks involved.EAST OF THE WALL--Charlie and Liz No. 2Charlie Ebersole and Liz Reid are recruited by the CIA to go into East Germany in June 1963, to attempt to obtain intelligence about a secret project of the Germans during World War II, about which information has been lost. The Berlin Wall and the Stasi (East German secret police) make this a perilous mission, but the two suspect that they are the most appropriate people for the job.TRUST ME IF YOU DARE--Charlie and Liz No. 1Charlie Ebersole is good at his job as a securities analyst for International Industries in Los Angeles in the year 1962, but he is also somewhat bored at being tied to a desk most of the time. He jumps at the chance to join the fraud section of II, and is immediately put on a case that will take him and another employee, Elizabeth Reid, to Buffalo, Fort Lauderdale, and possibly to Fidel Castro's Cuba, although the Bay of Pigs fiasco is a recent memory, and relations between Cuba and the United States are not good. Charlie and Liz find out that uncovering a Ponzi scheme isn't all just fun and games, but it can be dangerous too, especially when somebody is intent on them not discovering the truth. Before the
