Somewhere in South America, at the home of the country's vice president, a lavish birthday party is being held in honor of Mr. Hosokawa, a powerful Japanese businessman. Roxanne Coss, opera's most revered soprano, has mesmerized the international guests with her singing. It is a perfect evening -- until a band of gun-wielding terrorists breaks in through the air-conditioning vents and takes the entire party hostage. But what begins as a panicked,...

At night, in Huda's fragrant garden, a breeze sweeps in from the desert encircling Baghdad, rustling the leaves of her apricot trees and carrying warning of visitors at her gate. Huda, a secretary at the Australian embassy, lives in fear of the mukhabarat--the secret police who watch and listen for any scrap of information that can be used against America and its allies. They have ordered her to befriend Ally Wilson, the deputy ambassador's wife....

When an elderly Paris bookstall owner is abducted at gunpoint, his friend Hugo--head of security at the U.S. embassy--launches a search with the aid of a semi-retired CIA agent. Meanwhile, rival drug gangs are engaging in violent turf wars and more booksellers are being found floating in the Seine. Though the Parisian police are not interested in his opinion, Marston is sure the hostilities have something to do with the murders of these bouquinistes--and...

"Jake is in a race against time to foil a demon-riddled plot to destroy earth--what a way to start his new job at the Embassy of the Dead! The second book of this spookily funny trilogy. In return for helping Stiffkey the ghost pass into the Afterworld, Jake Green has been awarded an official position at the Embassy of the Dead, a job he didn't ask for and, to be honest, doesn't necessarily want. But saying no to the Embassy isn't really an option,...