Rebecca Bennett, the estranged stepdaughter of a well-to-do Las Vegas businessman, is hounding the Las Vegas Police Department to reopen the investigation into her mother Rita's death -- alleging that, despite appearances to the contrary, Rebecca's greedy stepfather actually played a hand in Rita Bennett's untimely end. But no one is prepared for the news that CSIs Gil Grissom, Sara Sidle, and Nick Stokes report -- their investigation is inconclusive...because the disinterred deceased is not Rita Bennett. Meanwhile, at the Sunny Day Continuing Care Facility, Catherine Willows and Warrick Brown must investigate the sudden demise of Vivian Elliot -- a patient whose death may be the result of unnatural causes....

From AudioFileMax Allan Collins's novels merge history and fiction; THE PEARL HARBOR MURDERS continues this pattern, focusing on the bombing of Pearl Harbor. With Edgar Rice Burroughs as a key player, the book intertwines the events of December 7, 1941, with the murder of Asian singer Pearl Harada. Burroughs, an unlikely person to solve a murder, knew Pearl and finds her body. With his son Hully, he inquires into the death and finds a bevy of suspects, including many ex-boyfriends, racists, and others. Charlie O'Dowd gives an uneven performance. At times he is marvelous, giving "personality" to the many characters, but at other times, the book seems to bore him. D.J.S. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Oui, the mystery of the missingPink Panther Diamond is as good as solved!Only one question remains:Who stole the Pink Panther Diamond?A famous coach is murdered in a crowded stadium. His most-prized possession--a ring set with the stunning Pink Panther Diamond--has vanished in the melee. The French government needs a master detective on the case, but the head of the Paris Police Bureau is unwilling to jeopardize his chances for the Medal of Honor with such a difficult, high-profile assignment. Surely Inspector Jacques Clouseau, a clumsy provincial gendarme with a knack for ignoring the obvious, could fill in without upstaging his superiors. Within seconds he proves his genius by narrowing the list down to just 60,000 suspects!Pink Panther fans know Clouseau will recover the missing gem, bring a killer to justice, restore a Republic's damaged pride, and win the gratitude of an adoring nation. And he'll attempt to...

Meet the little know and even less understood heroes of police work in Las Vegas - the forensic investigators, as they work to untangle the evidence behind the yellow police tape. Wednesday, 5.30am: in an off-the-strip, somewhat-out-of-the-way casino, a room service waiter rounds a corner and stumbles across a killer, and a corpse. Homicide detective Jim Brass summons Grissom and company to the scene. As Brass follows his instincts, Warrick and Sara folow evidence the killer left behind, and Nick and Catherine investigate a murder that's fifteen years new. Although focused at first on the perpetrator's deadly double-tap signature, Grissom will soon make the most troubling discovery of all: the inexplicable interest of FBI agent Rick Culpepper.

When a retired colleague dies of an apparent suicide, ex - Secret Service agent Joe Reeder knows there must be far more to the story. Why did the man leave a desperate message for Reeder moments before dying? And what could possibly make such a seasoned veteran fear for his life? FBI Special Agent Patti Rogers has a mystery of her own to solve: she's leading a task force investigating a brutal series of similar but seemingly unconnected murders across the DC area. Are they serial killings or something even more sinister? Could Reeder and Rogers be tracking down different facets of the same conspiracy? And how do the continued assassination attempts on a presidential hopeful figure into an unprecedented attack on the heart of government? The answers to these questions are uncovered in this riveting sequel to the bestselling Supreme Justice.  

Chicago, September 1964. Beatlemania sweeps the nation, the Vietnam War looms, and the Warren Commission prepares to blame a “lone-nut” assassin for the killing of President John F. Kennedy. But as the post-Camelot era begins, a suspicious outbreak of suicides, accidental deaths, and outright murders decimates assassination witnesses. When Nathan Heller and his son are nearly run down on a city street, the private detective wonders if he himself might be a loose end.… Soon a faked suicide linked to President Johnson’s corrupt cronies takes Heller to Texas, where celebrity columnist Flo Kilgore implores him to explore that growing list of dead witnesses. With the blessing of Bobby Kennedy—former US attorney general, now running for Senator from New York—Heller and Flo investigate the increasing wave of violence that seems to emanate from the notorious Mac Wallace, rumored to be LBJ’s personal hatchet man. Fifty years after JFK’s tragic death, Collins’s rigorous research for Ask Not raises new questions about the most controversial assassination of our time.

Meet the little known and even less understood heroes of police work in Las Vegas -- the forensic investigators. Led by veteran Gil Grissom, the remarkable team assigned to the Criminalistics Bureau's graveyard shift -- including Catherine Willows, Warrick Brown, Nick Stokes, and Sara Sidle -- must combine cutting-edge scientiÞc methods and old-fashioned savvy as they work to untangle the evidence behind the yellow police tape. SIN CITY "If anything happens to me, get this cassette to the police," Lynn Pierce told her friends the night she disappeared without a trace. Pierce seemed to be a devout Christian, devoted wife and mother -- but she left behind a recording of her husband threatening to cut her into little pieces. Jenna Patrick was a professional stripper who said she was trying to get out of the sex trade and into junior college. She wound up strangled to death in a locked room in the back of the club where she worked. What could these two women...

Amazon.com ReviewHistorical mysteries grounded in fact and embellished with fiction are Collins's forte, and here he takes the World War I sinking of a great Cunard liner as the canvas for a rollicking story of murder, espionage, and mayhem. Willard Wright, a critic, journalist and mystery writer (under the pseudonym of S.S. Van Dine), is supposed to be interviewing the rich and famous who are making the journey to England on the luxurious ship. But what he's really doing is investigating the sub rosa shipment of munitions by a government supposedly neutral in the European conflict. Aided by a female version of Philo Vance, Van Dine's series hero, Wright unmasks a couple of spies and a murderer and finds the munitions in plenty of time to carry on a decidedly modern affair with the beautiful and sexy Pinkerton agent, but, alas, too late to save the Lusitania from a German U-boat. A skillfully told story with all the verisimilitude and historical accuracy of earlier books in this captivating series, which gave the Titanic, Hindenburg, and Pearl Harbor disasters the same lively treatment. --Jane AdamsFrom Publishers WeeklyIn this traditional, pre-World War I mystery, prolific Collins (The Pearl Harbor Murders, etc.) emulates the memoir-like writing style of S.S. Van Dine, a mystery writer and art critic popular in the Jazz Age, and casts him as a journalist-cum-amateur sleuth. Humbled by the need to make a buck, the ever disdainful Van Dine agrees to board the Lusitania in order to interview the ship's wealthiest passengers and investigate rumors that the opulent ocean liner is carrying munitions. While touring the vessel, Van Dine and his guide surprise three stowaways who may be German saboteurs. When one of them turns up dead, Philo Vance, the ship's dimpled detective, takes over and enlists Van Dine as her assistant and lover. Two corpses later, Philo and Van Dine deduce there's a traitor in their midst who is most likely one of the vessel's most esteemed passengers. Collins, author of several screenplays and movie/TV tie-in novels (In the Line of Fire; Road to Perdition), ably weaves a well-paced, closed-environment mystery reminiscent of Agatha Christie, but the acerbic Van Dine, who scorns popular fiction and politics, will grate on readers' nerves. Nevertheless, the author succeeds in resurrecting a long-forgotten writer and re-imagining the Lusitania's final voyage.Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.