A target's wife makes a cold-hearted assassin question his work The hitman adjusts his rifle sight in an apartment across the street from his mark. For thirty minutes he peers through his scope, watching the man he is about to kill. He waits patiently, for assassinations demand focus. One bullet is all he needs. When the job is done, he disappears.   This is an ordinary working day for Richard Breckner, a hired gun on the payroll of one of America's...

Japanese-American Beverly Hills homicide detective Masao Masuto is a karate expert, a devotee of roses, and a Zen Buddhist. He does his job with a cool, caustic wit-and with surprising force when necessary. He possesses a singular sense of justice, taking action on his own and occasionally pushing the boundaries of the law… The Case of the Angry Actress: When a Hollywood mogul drops dead at his own party, Detective Masuto must dig into the darkest...

An insurance investigator chases a vanished heiress- and a huge payday One of the richest girls on Park Avenue is missing. Cynthia Brandon left her father's apartment on Monday, and three days later has not been seen anywhere on the respectable side of town. She may have been kidnapped, or murdered. Or she may have simply gotten bored with her pampered life in a twenty-two-room apartment, and split.   Harvey Krim wouldn't care about Cynthia if it...

Targeted by a mysterious conspiracy, a clever young woman fights back If Shirley is surprised that someone wants to kill her, she does not let the gunmen know. As far as she knows, Shirley is no different from any other employee at the Bushwick Brothers plastics factory. So why has she been forced from her home and shoved into the front seat of a kidnapper's car?   There is no time to wonder why. Shirley Campbel has not cried since she was ten, and...

A murder investigation at a high-priced hotel reveals a deadly plot reaching the highest seats of power They call the pool at the Beverly Glen Hotel "the naked hooker." To the frustration of the Beverly Hills police department, the women there are so high class that it's impossible to distinguish guests and girlfriends from professionals. Women flock to the lavish hotel because it teems with film stars, businessmen-and America's richest criminals....

A small-town girl flees from the assassin she hired to kill her When the doctor in her small hometown tells Sally Dillman that she has six months to live, the quiet young schoolteacher sells her house and moves to New York City. She comes not to see the sights, not for one last thrill, but to die as quickly as possible. Savings in hand, she pays a mobster $3,000 to put a contract out on her life. She wants to be killed before leukemia saps her strength,...

A dog's murder leads detective Masuto to a most unusual poisoning case In Beverly Hills, murder has suddenly gone out of style. For five weeks, the head of the city's tiny homicide squad, Zen detective Masao Masuto, has worked only robbery investigations. But after more than a month without a corpse, this dry spell is about to end.   The dead woman is Ana Fortez, a Chicana whose death was originally classified as terminal food poisoning brought on...

Detective Masuto investigates a Hollywood kidnapping that leads to a shocking conspiracy Angel is Hollywood royalty. Her husband, Mike Barton, is one of the silver screen's most bankable stars, and their marriage has all the hallmarks of a Beverly Hills fairy tale. But everything about Angel's past is kept secret, including her real name. When reporters ask why Mike dubbed her Angel, she says that she must have fallen from heaven. No one knows where...

Detective Masuto reopens an investigation into a murderous film star-with deadly consequences On the day that Eve Mackenzie murders her husband, Masao Masuto is on a plane to Japan. For years he and his wife, both American-born Japanese, have dreamed of visiting their homeland, and though the trip is a delight, the Zen Buddhist detective cannot help but check the international papers for news of murder on his home turf of Beverly Hills. Part of him...

Detective Masuto investigates a Hollywood mogul's sudden death The residents of Beverly Hills tend to underestimate a Buddhist homicide detective, and Masao Masuto is happy to let them make that mistake. A second-generation Japanese-American, he relishes the thrill of a puzzling murder case. And Masuto will need all his powers of deduction to understand the murder of Al Greenberg.   The producer was giving a party when his heart stopped. After years...