Most Popular Books by Ross THOMAS

An old CIA connection brings trouble for a Washington, DC, barman in this thriller from "America''s best storyteller" ( The New York Times Book Review). As the saying goes, you can''t pick your friends. If you could, Mac McCorkle would disown Padilla. They owned a bar together in Bonn, the West German capital, and stayed partners even after Padilla''s sideline as a CIA operative got the bar blown up. Padilla was thought to be dead and erased from the CIA''s files—but now he''s back on the agency''s turf. Mac moved to Washington, DC, after the trouble in Bonn to get married and open his bar anew. His new bride is beautiful, the bar is a success, and Padilla''s reappearance threatens everything. A group of African terrorists want Padilla to assassinate the prime minister of their small sub-Saharan republic—and they''ve kidnapped Mac''s wife to use as leverage.

"Booth Stallings, 60-year-old Washington expert on terrorism and perennial drunk," is fired from his job, but Georgia Blue plans to deliver $5 million to rebels in the Philippine jungle, and Stallings, Otherguy Overby, Artie Wu, and Stallings'' sidekick Durant "have other destinations in mind."--Audio cassette container.

Mac McCorkle and Mike Padillo team up to help twin bodyguards in a thrilling crime caper from "America''s best storyteller" ( The New York Times Book Review). The twins who walk into Mac McCorkle''s bar look identical, despite their differing genders. Their names are Wanda and Walter Gothar, and from the steel in their eyes it''s apparent that their business isn''t the friendly kind. They''ve come seeking help from Mac and his partner, Padilla, an ex-CIA agent who has skulked in the world''s darkest corners. Anxious for a big payday, the twins took an assignment out of their depth, working as bodyguards for a Saudi prince who came to Washington to sign an oil deal. The job fell apart, and now the twins are being pursued by the world''s two finest killers—who take out Walter without breaking a sweat. Now Mac and Padilla are faced with a choice: Save Wanda, or join her in the grave.

From the Edgar Award–winning author: "[A] highly readable novel of political adventure . . . a cracking good story and the Africa mentality is fascinating" ( Kirkus Reviews). Clinton Shartelle doesn''t seem like a good choice to run a political campaign in Albertia. For one thing, he''s American, and Albertia is a small coastal republic in Africa, about to be cut loose from the English Crown. For another, Shartelle is Southern and fiercely proud of it, and his ideas about racial politics veer unpredictably from progressive to rigidly old-fashioned. But Shartelle is the best, and the political future of Albertia is too important to be left to anyone else. If history is any indication, this first fair election will probably be the country''s last. Rich natural resources make it attractive to businessmen on both sides of the Atlantic, opening Albertia up to political corruption. For his part, Shartelle is hired to make sure that a British industrialist''s favored candidate wins the presidency. But the opposition is backed by the CIA, for whom murder is just another political tool.

The son of a dead CIA agent is offered $100,000 for the rights to his father''s memoirs sight unseen.

Originally published: New York: Simon & Schuster, 1978.

"Hain''t we got all the fools in town on our side? And ain''t that a big enough majority in any town?" -- Mark Twain When Lucifer Dye is released from three months in a Hong Kong prison, debriefed, handed a false passport, a new wardrobe and a $20,000 check, his haughty control makes it clear that Dye''s career with his country has been permanently terminated. But a good agent is always in demand, and just a few hours later Dye is being interviewed for a highly ingenious position. Victor Orcutt, although a not very good imitation of a British pre-war gent, has creative talents of his own. He has his sights a small southern city, with the ordinary run-of-the-mill corruption one would expect in such a place. The canny Orcott knows there''s no profit in that. His creed is "To get better, it must be much worse." He and his two associates have looked up Dye''s history, and he now offers the ex-spy a mission: for two and a half times the government''s bounty, Dye is to thoroughly corrupt the town. And the sly Dye takes the offer.

A journalist tries to save an abducted ambassador—even though he despises the man—in this entertaining thriller by an Edgar Award–winning author. Philip St. Ives loses his first job in journalism as soon as he realizes he hates the man who gave it to him. Chicago Post editor Amfred Killingsworth is a pompous blowhard, and fires his newest reporter for failing to fawn over him. St. Ives goes to New York, where he lands a daily column and the close friendship of an assortment of crooks. Killingsworth goes in a less respectable direction, becoming the US ambassador to Yugoslavia. By the time the ambassador gets himself kidnapped, the only man who can save him is his former cub reporter. The kidnappers demand the release of a Slavic poet in exchange for the ambassador, and St. Ives goes behind the Iron Curtain to arrange the hand-off. To protect a trove of ugly Washington secrets, he''ll have to save the life of a universally disliked man.

Ah, Treachery!, the last novel Thomas wrote before his death, tells the story of one Captain Edd "Twodees" Partain, drummed out of the Army and hounded by rumors of his involvement in a secret operation in El Salvador. Twodees gets hired on to help a fundraiser for the "Little Rock folks" recover funds that were stolen from an illicit stash used to smooth over problems and pay off hush money. Meanwhile, Partain is involved in a storefront operation called VOMIT (Victims of Military Intelligence Treachery) trying to defend former intelligence operatives such as Partain from those who are trying to cover up the past permanently.

A long-distance call from a Texas city on his birthday gives Benjamin Dill the news that his sister-- it'' s her birthday, too, they were born exactly ten years apart-- has died in a car bomb explosion. It'' s the chief of police calling-- Felicity Dill worked for him; she was a homicide detective. Dill is there that night, the beginning of his dogged search for her killer. What he finds is no surprise to him, because Benjamin Dill is never surprised at what awful things people will do-- but it'' s a real surprise to the reader. As Newsday said when the novel was first published, " One sure thing about Ross Thomas'' s novels: A reader won'' t get bored waiting for the action to start."

After losing the trail of a pair of book thieves he is tailing, Philip St. Ives flies to Miami to pay a call on the book''s owner, a rich woman with a taste for pain. Reprint. NYT.

A large sum of money brings former campaign manager and Washington insider Harvey Longmire out of retirement and on the trail of a missing union leader, a trail that leads through the seamy side of the Capital''s political scene.

Kriminalroman.