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A mysterious death. A depraved secret. The ruthless Chinese mafia. Murder is never simple.
When the young husband of a wealthy California heiress is found dead on his yacht, private investigator Raja Williams and his tech-savvy partner, Vinny Moore, head to Los Angeles. Their investigation leads to a human trafficking ring, the Chinese mafia, and a cover-up that may go as high as the governor’s mansion.
As more bodies pile up, Raja and Vinny find themselves targeted by a powerful enemy with much to hide, and must race to uncover the truth before everyone involved, including the two of them, ends up dead.
Brilliant. Fearless. Unstoppable. Raja Williams is a private detective who is relentless in his pursuit of justice. Neither the dark, tragic anti-hero nor the James Bond super-hero type, Raja uses his intuitive genius and penetrating empathy to unravel mysteries. His sixth sense for evil gives him headaches and steers him straight into trouble. Readers have described him as “a cross between Dirk Pitt and Alex Cross.”
Raja’s partner, Vinny Moore, is a gorgeous hipster geek who prefers hacking computers to haute couture. Vinny once worked for the U.S. government until she purposely made herself more trouble than they could handle so they would cut her loose. She loves to push Raja’s buttons with the hipster lingo she is constantly picking up on the internet. Despite her teasing, Vinny is Raja’s best friend.
WHAT READERS ARE SAYING
“A Classic Thriller In running e-thriller.com I get to read – or at least start – a number of books that follow this proven formula, but The Color Of Greed is well-written, has a good plot and the dialogue works. And yes, we would all like to be Raja Williams with a private jet and the ladies falling at our feet. Jack Thompson gives his readers what they want: a good plot with a central character painted in bold colours.” -Mike Smith, e-thriller.com
“Best detective since Sherlock Holmes!”
“I love Raja Williams. He is a brilliant private investigator with an amazing heart.”
“Crime solving and kick ass…totally enjoyable way to spend time indoors.”
“This book had me from chapter one and I couldn’t put it down. It’s fast-paced, full of action, and dripping with mystery.”
Prologue
A forty-foot cruiser floated idly next to the dock at the Alamitos Bay Yacht Club, just north of Seal Beach on the Southern California coast. A recent storm in the Pacific had churned up enough sea to send choppy waves now and again into the bay. As the boat rocked up on a wave, the name Maid Marion flashed momentarily into view in the moonlight. The sound of two voices interspersed with giggles echoed from below deck.
A tan young man and a cute girl in shorts and a halter top were making out on the curved bed in the boat’s lower cabin. As he heated up, the young man made his move to climb on top of the girl. Realizing where things were headed, the girl straightened her arms between them and managed to break his grip momentarily.
“Darryl, are you sure no one will see us out here? What if someone comes along? I don’t feel safe on this boat.”
“Are you kidding? It’s just like a house on the water. We are completely alone, Sandy. Trust me.” Those two words were uttered countless times by a boy to a girl to invoke favor from the gods of love. Darryl’s hopes that they would work yet again soared when Sandy smiled, untied her top and dropped it onto the floor. The two resumed their fevered grappling until a loud thud echoed in the cabin followed by an unpleasant scraping sound. Darryl ignored the interruption twice and pressed on, but when it happened a third time, Sandy’s eyes bugged wide and her body stiffened.
Darryl knew then he would have to deal with whatever was making the horrible sound.
“What was that?” said Sandy, right on cue, reaching for her top.
“Wait here,” ordered Darryl, impatiently. He was halfway to the stairs. “I’ll be right back.” He thought it was probably a tourist who hadn’t secured his boat well enough. A couple of quick knots and he’d be back for business. Darryl climbed up to the deck and peered around. The thump repeated behind him. He turned and saw a forty-foot sports yacht scraping against the seaward side of the dock. It was an Azimut 40, high-end luxury and nicer than most, and there didn’t appear to be anyone on board. The edge of the hull screeched loudly as the boat pushed itself outward. Darryl hopped onto the dock and ran toward the boat that now drifted ten feet away.
“Hello? Anyone on board?” he shouted, listening in between for any sign of life. Nothing. When the boat drifted back toward the dock again, he leaped onto the rear deck. “Hello,” he said, once more. There was no sign of anyone. As he searched in the pale moonlight for a line to tie the boat, something bumped into the back of his ankle. He jumped and let out a girlish yelp. It was only an orange mooring buoy that had rolled across the deck. Darryl laughed at himself, shook his head and continued searching until he found the dock line. He tied the back end of the boat to a cleat on the dock, and then went below to look around.
Meanwhile Sandy managed to get her top back on and came up on deck just in time to see Darryl ducking into the interior of the derelict yacht. She pulled on her sneakers and hopped onto the dock and from there to the rear deck of the other boat. She noticed the yacht’s name Clarice painted in cursive on the back panel. Several gruesome scenes from the movie The Silence of the Lambs flashed into her head. Sandy shivered involuntarily and decided not to follow Darryl below deck. Feeling safer in the open air, she climbed up to the overhead flybridge. There was a sundeck behind a control panel full of dials. She noticed a rumpled piece of canvas along the railing. When she pulled one edge to move it out of her way, the canvas shifted and a man’s body rolled out and flopped on its back in the center of the deck. The face was bloody and had no eyes. Sandy screamed.
Buy The Color of Greed Now for $2.99:
Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon CA | Amazon AU
Kobo, Apple, Nook and More
Paperback $12.99: Amazon