Death Ship
Page 34
Barbara Lassiter and Susan Martinez, two New Mexico homicide detectives, are assigned to investigate the murder of a wealthy Albuquerque socialite. They soon discover that the victim, a narcissistic borderline personality, played a lifetime game of destroying people’s lives. As a result, the list of suspects in her murder is extensive.
The detectives find themselves enmeshed in a helix of possible perpetrators with opportunity, means, and motive—and soon question giving their best efforts to solve the case the more they learn about the victim’s hideous past.
Their job gets tougher when the victim’s psychiatrist is murdered and DVDs turn up that show the doctor had serial sexual relationships with a large number of his female patients, including the murder victim.
“Borderline” presents a fascinating cast of characters, including two heroic female detective-protagonists and a diabolical villain; a rollercoaster ride of suspense; and an ending that will surprise and shock the reader.
“Think Cagney and Lacey. Think Thelma and Louise. Think murder and mayhem—and you are in the death grip of a mystery that won’t let you go until it has choked the last breath of suspense from you.”
—Parris Afton Bonds, author of “Tamed the Wildest Heart” and co-founder of Romance Writers of America and cofounder of Southwest Writers Workshop
“THE PYTHAGOREAN SOLUTION”
STAND-ALONE THRILLER
The attempt to decipher a map leads to violence and death, and a decades-long sunken treasure.
When American John Hammond arrives on the Aegean island of Samos he is unaware of events that happened six decades earlier that will embroil him in death and violence and will change his life forever.
Late one night Hammond finds Petros Vangelos lying mortally wounded in an alley. Vangelos hands off a coded map, making Hammond the link to a Turkish tramp steamer that carried a fortune in gold and jewels and sank in a storm in 1945.
On board this ship, in a waterproof safe, are documents that implicate a German SS Officer in the theft of valuables from Holocaust victims and the laundering of those valuables by the Nazi’s Swiss banker partner.
“Badal is a powerful writer who quickly reels you in and doesn’t let go.”
—Pat Frovarp & Gary Shulze, Once Upon A Crime Mystery Bookstore
“ULTIMATE BETRAYAL”
STAND-ALONE THRILLER
Inspired by actual events, “Ultimate Betrayal” is a thriller that takes the reader on an action-packed, adrenaline-boosting ride, from the streets of South Philadelphia, through the Afghanistan War, to Mafia drug smuggling, to the halls of power at the CIA and the White House.
David Hood comes from the streets of South Philadelphia, is a decorated Afghanistan War hero, builds a highly successful business, marries the woman of his dreams, and has two children he adores. But there are two ghosts in David’s past. One is the guilt he carries over the death of his brother. The other is a specter that will do anything to murder him.
David has long lost the belief that good will triumph over evil. The deaths of his wife and children only reinforce that cynicism. And leave him with nothing but a bone-chilling, all-consuming need for revenge.
“ ‘Ultimate Betrayal’ provides the ultimate in riveting reading entertainment that’s as well thought out as it is thought provoking. Both a stand-out thriller and modern day morality tale. Mined from the familial territory of Harlan Coben, with the seasoned action plotting of James Rollins or Steve Berry, this is fiction of the highest order. Poignant and unrelentingly powerful.”
—Jon Land, bestselling and award-winning author of “The Tenth Circle”
“SHELL GAME”
STAND-ALONE THRILLER
“Shell Game” is a financial thriller using the economic environment created by the capital markets meltdown that began in 2007 as the backdrop for a timely, dramatic, and hair-raising tale. Joseph Badal weaves an intricate and realistic story about how a family and its business are put into jeopardy through heavy-handed, arbitrary rules set down by federal banking regulators, and by the actions of a sociopath in league with a corrupt bank regulator.
Like all of Badal’s novels, “Shell Game” takes the reader on a roller coaster ride of action and intrigue carried on the shoulders of believable, often diabolical characters. Although a work of fiction, “Shell Game,” through its protagonist Edward Winter, provides an understandable explanation of one of the main reasons the U.S. economy continues to languish. It is a commentary on what federal regulators are doing to the United States banking community today and, as a result, the damage they are inflicting on perfectly sound businesses and private investors across the country and on the overall U.S. economy.
“Shell Game” is inspired by actual events that have taken place as a result of poor governmental leadership and oversight, greed, corruption, stupidity, and badly conceived regulatory actions. You may be inclined to find it hard to believe what happens in this novel to both banks and bank borrowers. I encourage you to keep an open mind. “Shell Game” is a work of fiction that supports the old adage: You don’t need to make this stuff up.
“Fiction Master, Joseph Badal has another winner in ‘Shell Game.’ Take a roller coaster ride through the maze of modern banking regulations with one of modern fiction’s most terrifying sociopaths in the driver’s seat. Along with its compelling, fast-paced story of a family’s struggle against corruption, ‘Shell Game’ raises important questions about America’s financial system based on well-researched facts.”
—Anne Hillerman & Jean Schaumberg, WORDHARVEST