Mike Downs Mysteries
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Excerpt from Agent Keys Steps Out
Now, at close to 70 miles an hour, Rian sees more red taillights in the distance. Closing fast on the traffic, Rian makes up his mind to blow by the vehicles ahead as fast as he can. The Pontiac jounces over another hump. Too late, Rian realizes the traffic is a line of military trucks that are waiting to turn onto Skaggs Island Road.
He yanks the wheel hard left, the Pontiac slews to the tall berm on the road's edge, then rockets off the road, soaring out into San Pablo Bay. Crashing down nose first into the water, the impact sends Rian's head smashing into the steering wheel. Bloody and disoriented, he frantically struggles against the Bay's water pressure in a losing battle to get the door open.
Freezing water pours in from the smashed hidden compartments, quickly climbing up his body. Completely panicked, Rian pushes himself up to gulp a bubble of air. The black water swirls past his chin, cold darkness envelopes him. Screaming, he claws at the headliner to find another bubble.
Keys' jeep screeches to a halt; he and Larry jump out to stand at the edge of the road. They can hear Rian's muffled scream as the car goes under water. The Pontiac's lights glow eerily in the murky water before fading from view.
Larry stands by Keys in the cold rain watching the Bay's water consume the Pontiac. "I got the license number, Keys."
Agent Keys Steps Out is available through the Mike Downs Mystery Store and at Amazon.com, Goodreads, and Lenka's List.
1943 San Francisco. The city is still edgy. Rumors of a Japanese invasion continue to circulate. 30 miles north of the city at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, men and women toil 24/7 building our best defense weapons.
A lonely sailor on liberty walks down Sutter Street looking for booze and women. What Navy submariner Nick Devin finds is a Nazi spy ring after sonar and radar tech secrets and big trouble. Torn between his service to America and the demands of the Nazi spies, Nick seeks the FBI's help to break up the spy ring.
Agent Barry Keys, a tough FBI veteran, uses Devin to get to the bad guys. Keys is also determined to rip the heart out of the Nazi threat and to end its quest for America's latest tech secrets. Together Nick and Keys plan to take the spy ring down. What they get is far more than they bargained for.
Sounds of Deception is available through the Mike Downs Mystery Store, on Amazon.com, Goodreads, and Lenka's List.
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Coming Soon
Novac Strikes Back marks the return of Jack Novac. Jack, not content to build an electronics empire to help the war effort, travels to Europe to seek revenge on the Nazi's that ended his racing career. The yen for racing still burns in his body. The damage done by the Nazi, Von Steuben, killed his auto racing, but Jack finds a new avenue in airplanes. The 1930's marked a golden era of air racing and Jack wants in.
Bobo's Raid is on the shelves now
Bobo’s Raid
1928 England
Count Reginald Bobrowski, dazed and bloody, sits down heavily. The speed record beast he was driving steams and groans, broken on the beach after the drive chain snapped nearly decapitating him.
Bobrowski, son of a wealthy Polish Count and an American heiress, lives in England with his wife Alexandra. Her pet name for the Count is Bobo, a name he finds most embarrassing. Bobo dabbles in racing cars and managing his myriad business interests.
On a lark he and his friend Clive Parry-Jones take their wives on a journey to the sands of the Sahara. After returning from the nearly disastrous trip Reggie meets a sinister Mr. S, head of a secret government department in London. S orders Reggie to go back to the Sahara to spy on a German expedition London thinks is seeking oil for their future war effort.
Reggie and Clive modify a Citroën Kégresse half-track ambulance into a lightly armored desert traveler to cross the treacherous Sahara sands. They load the Citroën aboard a cargo ship and endure a harrowing sea voyage to Algeria. At their base in Ouargla, they find more intrigue. S has sent a cunning, brutally deceptive female agent to control Reggie’s every move.
Reggie and Clive try to puzzle who is after what. The Germans roam the desert leaving death and angry Berbers in their wake. S's agent has an agenda of her own, and Bobrowski is caught in the crosshairs of both factions.
Is Reggie just a rich lay-a-about fop or can he and his friend Clive get the job done? Join them on a gritty tale of murder and deceit across the desert as the Count dodges death to seek the truth.
Bobo's Raid is available now here, and at most online booksellers.
The Artimus Box
A skeletal arm protruding from the rubble of a 70-year old building jumpstarts the case for LAPD detective Van Taylor. A bullet hole in the skull of the remains puts Van's retirement plans on hold. A box hidden under the skeleton contains an encoding machine made by Harry Artimus.
Van and his wife Kathy discover a fascinating world of early American racing. They discover Artimus, the genius behind the fastest racing cars of the 1920's and 1930's, was duped into designing a radical race car along with an encoding machine that could allow Germany to send unbreakable secret messages.
When a viscious gang leader kidnaps Van's wife as ransom for the box, Van finds murder and betrayal. Everyone is after the box that promises to hold a fantastic treasure.
Buckle your seat belt as Van races to save his wife and solve the seventy-year old murder.
Novac's Race
Jack Novac, Indy 500 winner, plans a new assault for the 1934 Championship with his two fabulous Miller front drive race cars. Then the rules change and his Millers are not eligible. When a retired army general offers to sponsor Jack on a barnstorming tour of Europe, Jack is unwillingly drawn into the intrigues brewing in pre-war Europe. The General sees Jack's show as a perfect cover for gaining access to manufacturing plants in Italy and Germany.
Jack breaks Europe's speed records, drawing record crowds. But murder and espionage seem to follow him around and everyone but Jack seems to think he's a spy. When a high-ranking Nazi official's wife disappears, Jack becomes his target for revenge. Jack thrills the crowds while racing to stay one step ahead of dying.
Join Jack Novac on his next adventure.
Novac's Run
After his stunning success at Monza, Mercedes offers Jack a test at the Nurburgring. While there, Jack meets Maddy Rosen, a sports journalist. He is captivated by her. His fanatical enemy, Count Von Steuben, pursues him throughout Germany, finally capturing him at the French Grand Prix. Find out how Jack and Maddy elude Von Steuben on their race across Europe.