Cast in Stone (Leo Waterman Mysteries)
by G.m. Ford
from Avon
In the wild days of Leo Waterman's youth, Henry "Heck" Sundstrom was a god. But things haven't been going great lately for the p.i.'s burly ex-hero. First came the honeymoon boating accident that killed Heck's son and new daughter-in-law, Allison. And now the big man himself is dying--struck down by a runaway truck at an ungodly hour in a section of Seattle where no decent citizen should be caught dead.
But Waterman's not so sure Allison went down with the ship. And if his motley, aging legmen, "the Boys," can gather the facts, perhaps he can prove it--following the lead to the Midwest and a missing million dollars. . .and maybe to a "black widow" who may be less "late" and more lethal than anyone ever suspected.
Black River: A Novel
by G.m. Ford
from Avon
Mobster Nicholas Balagula cut so many corners when he built a new children's hospital that 63 people died when it collapsed. Now he's up on murder charges, and Seattle true-crime writer Frank Corso, who watched Balagula's first two trials end disastrously when witnesses disappeared and jurors were bought off, is back in court for the third one, which looks like a slam dunk for the prosecution. Then Frank's former girlfriend, photojournalist Meg Dougherty, is brutally attacked after stumbling on a connection between a story she's following and the one Frank's hoping to turn into another bestseller. Corso, making his second appearance here (after Fury), is a quirky, engaging protagonist who grows on the reader, much like Leo Waterman, the laid-back hero of G.M. Ford's other series. Ford is a deft stylist whose characters are usually more interesting and less predictable than his plots; maybe he'll give Corso more to work with next time around. --Jane Adams
There is no stronger argument for the death penalty than Nicholas Balagula, the bloodthirsty West Coast crime boss who has been charged with sixty-three counts of homicide, many of them children. And now reclusive rogue journalist Frank Corso -- the only non-participant invited to observe the closed court proceedings -- stands uncomfortably in the center of the most crazed media circus to hit Seattle in years . . . until a personal tragedy diverts his attention. When photojournalist Meg Dougherty -- once Corso's lover and still his dearest friend -- comes face-to-face with a pair of cold-blooded executioners and ends up clinging weakly to life in the I.C.U., the angry lone-wolf reporter vows to make all the guilty parties pay, by his own hand if necessary. But the black river of lies, secrets, corruption, and murder surrounding both the Balagula trial and Meg's "accident" is much deeper and more dangerous than even Frank Corso anticipated. And if he wades in over his head, the undertow could drag him to his death.
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There is no stronger argument for the death penalty than Nicholas Balagula, the bloodthirsty West Coast crime boss who has been charged with sixty-three counts of homicide, many of them children. And now reclusive rogue journalist Frank Corso -- the only non-participant invited to observe the closed court proceedings -- stands uncomfortably in the center of the most crazed media circus to hit Seattle in years . . . until a personal tragedy diverts his attention. When photojournalist Meg Dougherty -- once Corso's lover and still his dearest friend -- comes face-to-face with a pair of cold-blooded executioners and ends up clinging weakly to life in the I.C.U., the angry lone-wolf reporter vows to make all the guilty parties pay, by his own hand if necessary. But the black river of lies, secrets, corruption, and murder surrounding both the Balagula trial and Meg's ""accident"" is much deeper and more dangerous than even Frank Corso anticipated. And if he wades in over his head, the undertow could drag him to his death.
"Fury
by G.m. Ford
from Avon
Frank Corso is a pariah—a journalist once vilified for making up "facts" on a major crime story. Yet slow, sheltered Leanne Samples trusts no one but Corso to tell the world that her courtroom testimony that put Walter Leroy "Trashman" Himes on Death Row was a lie. Convicted of the savage slaying of eight Seattle women, Himes is only six days from execution, unless Frank Corso and outcast photographer Meg Dougherty into a struggle that goes far beyond right, wrong, truth, and justice. Because the lowly and the powerful alike all want Himes dead at any cost—despite startling new evidence that threatens to devastate a city once again.
Frank Corso is a pariah -- a journalist once vilified for making up "facts" on a major crime story. Yet slow, sheltered Leanne Samples trusts no one but Corso to tell the world that her courtroom testimony that put Walter Leroy "Trashman" Himes on Death Row was a lie. Convicted of the savage slaying of eight Seattle women, Himes is only six days from execution, unless Frank Corso and outcast photographer Meg Dougherty into a struggle that goes far beyond right, wrong, truth, and justice. Because the lowly and the powerful alike all want Himes dead at any cost -- despite startling new evidence that threatens to devastate a city once again.
Last Ditch: A Leo Waterman Mystery (Leo Waterman Mysteries)
by G.m. Ford
from Avon
G.M. Ford's fifth book about Seattle private detective Leo Waterman begins with a backyard jolt: the Boys (a group of ancient alcoholics who Leo looks after) dig up the 30-year-old remains of a gay-bashing right-wing newspaper columnist named Peerless Price while doing some work on the grounds of the mansion belonging to Leo's late father, politician Wild Bill Waterman.
It looks very much as though Wild Bill did indeed shoot and bury his arch enemy. And precisely because both a starchy relative and the entire Seattle PD warn him against it, Leo proceeds to risk life, limb, and his ancient Fiat convertible to prove his father's innocence. What he finds out--from Wild Bill's old driver, an ex-cop called Bermuda Schwartz, and other assorted ghosts from the past--provides a wild and often touching story that combines recent headlines (about the smuggling of Chinese immigrants) with moments of personal pain. That same combination is present in Ford's other books about Waterman: Slow Burn, Who in Hell Is Wanda Fuca?, The Bum's Rush, and Cast in Stone. --Dick Adler
Seattle p.i. Leo Waterman knows the city like no one else. And he knows how to stretch the limits of the law, when necessary, to accomplish what needs to be done--a very useful talent Leo acquired from his late, larger-than-life father, once one of the region's most powerful and colorful political characters. But just how seriously Waterman senior transgressed during his time on Earth comes into question when one of "the Boys"--Leo's "residentially challenged" barfly allies--digs up a human skeleton in Dad's backyard.
The remains that remain belong to "Wild Bill" Waterman's staunchest foe--an ultra-conservative muckraking journalist who vanished mysteriously thirty years before. Leo has always struggled in his father's shadow--but he's convinced that his old man was much too savvy to have committed murder--let alone to have interred the victim in his own backyard. But in order to clear his father's damaged name, the dutiful son is going to have to start digging up a very dangerous past...and do his damnedest not to get buried beneath it.
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Seattle p.i. Leo Waterman knows the city like no one else. And he knows how to stretch the limits of the law, when necessary, to accomplish what needs to be done--a very useful talent Leo acquired from his late, larger-than-life father, once one of the region's most powerful and colorful political characters. But just how seriously Waterman senior transgressed during his time on Earth comes into question when one of "the Boys"--Leo's "residentially challenged" barfly allies--digs up a human skeleton in Dad's backyard.The remains that remain belong to "Wild Bill" Waterman's staunchest foe--an ultra-conservative muckraking journalist who vanished mysteriously thirty years before. Leo has always struggled in his father's shadow--but he's convinced that his old man was much too savvy to have committed murder--let alone to have interred the victim in his own backyard. But in order to clear his father's damaged name, the dutiful son is going to have to start digging up a very dangerous past...and do his damnedest not to get buried beneath it.
The Bum's Rush (Leo Waterman Mysteries)
by G.m. Ford
from Avon
Seattle's own Leo Waterman is back--along with the very motley crew of once and future alcoholics like Nearly Normal Norman who help him with his investigations. While looking for a missing member of the group, Leo and Co. stop a rape and get involved in the overdose death of a famous Seattle musician who might remind you of recent headlines. As in his two previous books in the Waterman series, Who in Hell is Wanda Fuca? and Cast in Stone, both available in softcover, G. M. Ford writes pungent, hilarious dialogue and manages to make us care about the lives of people we walk past on the street every day.
Packed with all the outrageous shenanigans that quickly marked Who in Hell is Wanda Fuca? and Cast in Stone as two of the most original mysteries in years, G.M. Ford crafts a devilishly funny and bat-out-of-hell paced novel featuring his smart-aleck yet irrepressible Seattle-based p.i., Leo Waterman.
Nobody loves you when you're down and out--except maybe Leo Waterman. As a man who has transformed a gaggle of residentially challenged devotees of cheap alcohol into a crack surveillance team, Leo has a soft spot for society's downtrodden. When a homeless woman says she's the mother of a deceased rock idol, Leo takes it upon himself to investigate the lady's claim, thereby embroiling the Boys, his dissolute deputies, and his own already bruised body in a high speed, life-threatening pursuit of the truth.
The Deader the Better: A Leo Waterman Mystery (Leo Waterman Mysteries)
by G.m. Ford
from Avon
Seattle p.i. Leo Waterman isn't looking for trouble when he and his forensic pathologist girlfriend Rebecca escape into the Washington wilder for a few days of relaxation -- it just seems to find him. An old friend has purchased some choice property here in North America's only rain forest and his posting of "No Trespassing" signs has incurred the wrath of every sportsman for miles around. But what starts as irksome harassment by the offended locals soon escalates into the real of the lethal. And it's just Waterman's luck to be in the epicenter of this murderous mess at the very moment it bursts into flames.
Seattle p.i. Leo Waterman isn't looking for trouble when he and his forensic pathologist girlfriend Rebecca escape into the Washington wilder for a few days of relaxation -- it just seems to find him. An old friend has purchased some choice property here in North America's only rain forest and his posting of "No Trespassing" signs has incurred the wrath of every sportsman for miles around. But what starts as irksome harassment by the offended locals soon escalates into the real of the lethal. And it's just Waterman's luck to be in the epicenter of this murderous mess at the very moment it bursts into flames.
Blown Away (Frank Corso)
by G.m. Ford
from Harper
The nightmare began a year ago in Pennsylvania with the shocking death of a delivery driver, blown to pieces during an outrageous crime. And now the terror has spread from East Coast to West . . .
As body parts pile up throughout the L.A. area—the result of a devastating series of bank robberies—federal agencies see nothing but the random hand of a bomb-tossing lunatic. Rogue journalist Frank Corso, however, sees the tracks of something far more sinister—something with a motive and a message. But the closer Corso and research assistant Chris Andriatta come to a fiendishly audacious maniac, the clearer a blood-chilling truth appears in the harsh and glaring light:
The fuse to this explosive horror may have inadvertently been lit by Frank Corso himself.
Who in Hell Is Wanda Fuca?
by G.m. Ford
from Avon
Just out in paperback, Ford's jaunty first mystery introduces a Seattle sleuth called Leo Waterman -- the rebellious scion of a powerful family who carries the spirit of the '60s around with him like dirty laundry. When an old mobster friend of his father hires him to look for his missing granddaughter, Leo recruits a clutch of homeless people to help in the search. The same lively writing and exciting plotting also add zest to Ford's second Waterman story, Cast in Stone.
A soft-hearted sleuth with a rebellious streak left over from the '60s, Leo Waterman seems to get entangled in, every oddball situation from Seattle to Puget Sound. So when he's hired to locate Caroline Nobel, an errant mob heiress with an environmentalist's heart, Leo goes with the flow -- leaving behind the familiar sights of Pioneer Square to follow the landscape-loving activist into the rain-soaked Washington woods. But Caroline's conscientious cohorts are dragging her deeper into the murky waters of environmental sabotage. And her hotheaded enthusiasm can't be cooled, even after two people are brutally murdered. Caroline's onto something extremely toxic. And unless Waterman can clear the air, her deadly dedication could poison him as well.
No Man's Land
by G.m. Ford
from Avon
Arizona's Meza Azul penitentiary is a technological wonder built to hold the worst of the worst. But somehow a prisoner has breached the foolproof security, opened the cells, and now holds more than one hundred guards and workers hostage. Cold, brilliant, and crazy, Navy sub commander-turned-double murderer Timothy Driver is in control. And one hostage will die every six hours until he gets what he wants: rogue journalist Frank Corso.
But Captain Driver wants a lot more than the ear of a once sympathetic writer who penned a bestselling book about Driver and his crimes. Joined by a cold-blooded hayseed murder machine named "Cutter" Kehoe, Driver's got a surprise or two in store: an ingenious undetected escape right under the noses of the storming government troops, followed by a maniacal cross-country killing spree . . . with Frank Corso along for the ride until the savage, bloody end.
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The accolades keep rolling in for G.M. Ford, whose gritty, explosive, lightning-fast brand of thriller has placed him in the upper ranks of contemporary crime fiction authors. Now, in his most relentlessly exciting novel to date, Ford's dark and complex protagonist, Frank Corso, finds himself drawn into a bizarre carnival of blood and death in the last place any sane person would willingly go ...
No Man's Land
Arizona's Meza Azul penitentiary is the pride of the state's newly privatized penal system -- a modern technological wonder, unassailable and inescapable, built to hold the worst of the worst. Yet, inconceivably, one prisoner has managed to breach the foolproof security, set loose the other inmates, and take control of the facility -- holding more than one hundred guards and workers hostage. And one hostage will die every six hours until Timothy Driver gets what he wants: Frank Corso.
A rogue journalist and confirmed lone wolf, Corso wrote a bestselling book about the former U.S. Navy submarine commander who was convicted of slaughtering his wife and her lover in a jealous fury. Now, unwilling to be responsible for the death of innocents, Corso allows himself to be delivered into the bowels of Meza Azul -- and into the hands of a crazed hero turned criminal.
But Captain Driver wants more than the ear of a once-sympathetic writer who will tell his final story tough and truthfully. Accompanied by a cold-blooded hayseed murder machine named ""Cutter"" Kehoe, and with Corso in tow, Driver pulls off a brilliant and undetected escape, right under the noses of armed government troops as they storm the captured prison. Suddenly a helpless spectator along for the ride on a maniacal cross-country killing spree -- with a tragic and beautiful TV journalist doggedly pursuing the story, heading inexorably into harm's way -- Corso finds himself in no man's land.
If he's lucky, Frank Corso may get one slim chance to escape the clutches of a psychopathic duo determined to go out in a blaze of blood and terror. But if he's not, his own story -- and too many others -- will end abruptly and brutally.
"Nameless Night
by G.m. Ford
from William Morrow
He wowed critics with his Frank Corso and Leo Waterman series, catapulting to the upper ranks of contemporary crime writers with each riveting new thriller. Now, G.M. Ford is back with a brand-new book, his first stand-alone novel, featuring a man with no name, no past—and at the center of a conspiracy so pervasive he's forced to run from the only home he's ever known—straight into the abyss—in his search for truth. . . .
Discovered lying near death in a railroad car, his body broken, his mind destroyed, Paul Hardy has spent the past seven years living in a group home for disabled adults, his identity and his past lost—seemingly forever. Then, after a horrific car accident, he awakens a new man, his face reconstructed, and his mind shadowy with memory. With only a name and a vaguely remembered scene to guide him, he goes on a cross-country quest to find out who he really is. But his search for the truth makes a lot of people uncomfortable—from the DA's office to the highest levels of government. Soon Paul is being tailed by an army of pursuers as he finds himself at the center of a government cover-up that has already claimed too many innocent lives—and the numbers are mounting. It's the kind of thing that could make even a man on the outskirts of society feel the pull of justice. A justice that might be worth killing for. Or dying for . . .
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