Bruce Medway

From the author of the national bestseller A Small Death in Lisbon and The Company of Strangers comes Wilson's compelling first novel, never before available in the United States. Bruce Medway's existence as a fixer and troubleshooter had been tough, but never life-threatening until he crossed paths with the mighty Madame Severnou. His life becomes even more complicated by his search for a missing fellow expat, Steven Kershaw. Against a backdrop of political disruption and endemic official corruption, Medway pursues the elusive phantom of Kershaw. Instruments of Darkness powerfully evokes the atmosphere, politics, and people of West Africa. With Medway's ironic voice, flashes of humor that may recall Raymond Chandler, and unforgettable characters, this compulsively readable thriller is the beginning of a remarkable series.

As a fixer, Bruce Medway makes his living doing things other people don't want to do. And in the seedier corners of West Africa, there are plenty of tasks that need doing. For example, porn producer Fat Paul needs someone to deliver a video to the Ivory Coast, but the recipients will only trust a white man to make a drop. A Syrian millionaire wants Bruce to travel to Korhogo to fire someone on his payroll. And Martin Fall, head of security at a firm back home in England, needs a man to keep an eye on diamond hunter Ronald Collins. Seems like three easy gigs for Bruce until two of his clients end up dead and the third goes missing. All three cases are dangerously tied to a group of Liberian rebels determined to wreak havoc wherever they go. Now, Bruce needs to outwit a band of killers all gunning for him before he becomes part of their swiftly rising body count.

Enter into a treacherous world in West Africa, where British expatriate Bruce Medway, a clandestine "troubleshooter" and debt collector, finds himself unexpectedly immersed in toxic waste scams and mafia crime when a job for his newest client turns out to involve more than the recovery of two million dollars. But Napier, the client, isn't the worst of Bruce's problems; that falls to Selina, Napier's seductive daughter, who wants more than money-she is out for revenge. In his attempt to help Selina, Bruce delves into more danger than he bargained for. Nothing is static in this intense plot-driven novel where truth is murky and motives are hidden. While Bruce is no stranger to lies, deceit, and crime, he has never met anyone like Selina and her cohorts. And even though Selina is alluring, not even love can change the fact that in this world, blood is dirt.

When schoolgirls begin to disappear on the West African coast, "troubleshooter" Bruce Medway tries to remain detached. Meanwhile, he reluctantly acquires a new job from former nemesis and mafia capo Franconelli. Franconelli gives Bruce forty-eight hours to find a French trader, Mariner, whom not even the mafia has been able to track. Yet as Bruce sets out on his assignment, he is unable to remain disconnected from the mysterious schoolgirl disappearances, and finds that girls, gold, and greed are all interconnected; corruption abounds everywhere. There are no safe havens for Bruce in this situation, and he must devise a scam that risks everything in order to stay alive. A brilliant follow-up to Blood is Dirt, and the fourth novel in the Bruce Medway series, A Darkening Stain takes Bruce Medway into the darkest territory of West Africa yet.