Joseph McGee Private Investigator

Friends at Homeland Security is the first in the six novella McGee series by Carl Douglass. McGee is a pre-eminent private investigator whose clients include the rich, famous, infamous, the important, and the unfortunate. Decklin Marcus, scion of the very wealthy investment banker, Howard Everhart Marcus, and mother Anne-residents of exclusive Gramercy Park, New York-is found dead in his rather seedy apartment; and no one seems to know how, why, or perhaps by whom. The investigation comes to involve all of McGee's considerable resources, NYPD detectives, senior CIA agents, DNI scientists, hostile Homeland Security agents, national and international databases, a Byelorussian hit man, and eventually the Russian mafia. There is something unusual about Decklin's corpse, something not copacetic at the bank, something suspicious about the parents, and something weird about Homeland Security's involvement in the whole thing. It is McGee's job to unravel the mystery, brave the tigers in their dens, to mollify all of the agencies, to protect his clients and his associates, and finally to achieve a denouement-a stunning surprise. He does it all with style and consummate intelligence.

Crossing the Cult is the second book of Carl Douglass's McGee series. Devon Michael Carlisle joins The Only True Church of Christ with his family when he is fifteen-years-old and lives in the bizarre polygamous world of Heart of Eden, Wyoming. The young man is a true believer, and a very bright mathematician and accountant who handles the church's accounts in New York City. For the maturing young man who begins to see the world outside the cloisters of his tight-knit religious group, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Devon obtains a prodigious lot of knowledge, including such things as evidence that the patriarchs of the faith have been hiding the details of their transactions in the stock market-including green mail activity and inappropriate short sales--formation of dummy corporations, and accounts in the name of church members who have no idea what transactions are taking place. The revelation for Devon is that billions of dollars are amassing in the coffers of the elite elders of The Only True Church. The evidence and Devon's concerns deepen enough for him to seek the help of McGee and Associates. That leads to Devon becoming a whistleblower; McGee's partner, Caitlin becoming an illegal hacker and forensic accountant; and the FBI launching no-knock raids on businesses. Finally Devon and his sister Ruth become defectors. Life becomes reprisals, arson, murder, and vengeance. Around the brother and sister some get rich; some get poor; and some get dead. McGee is in the vortex of the action every minute.

Wednesday's Child is the third novella of Carl Douglass's McGee series. It is a tale of "Wednesday's child is full of woe." Brigid O'Hanlon--age thirteen--is one of the "Wednesday's Children"--a foundling left on the doorstep of St. Anne's Orphanage in Red Hook, New York. One of the few days she and her girl-friends can count is the grand and city-wide heralded celebration of their thirteenth birthday. Harm befalls them, and McGee and Associates are called to help save them on a pro bono basis. The search transcends city, then country boundaries, and then on the high seas. The Human Trafficking division of the NYPD is called into the search after bodies are found in the pestilent Gowanus Canal near a semi-trailer containing the bodies of victims of a human trafficking network run by the Snakeheads. The hunt for the girls and for the clever and heartless monsters who killed their vulnerable captives descends into an underworld of CIs, Mafiosos, crooked Teamsters, and child molesters, presided over by the ephemeral devil, Sister Chi. The combined resources of McGee, the NYPD task force, the New Jersey State Police, the FBI, the U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S. Navy, the CIA, and the Catholics of NYC, and The MSS and the PSB of the Peoples Republic of China join in an around-the-world and around-the-clock manhunt for the rust bucket ship, the Golden Traveler, and the kidnappers. It promises to be very close and dangerous thing.

Death on a Pale Horse iis the fourth novella of Carl Douglass' McGee series. Painted Desert High school principal Bertha Yazzie is murdered, and Lt. Naalnish Begay--head of the field office of the NDCI for the Painted Desert District in Blue Mesa, Arizona suspects her husband. It is soon evident that the case is not so simple. Her computer yields angry interchanges with her husband and passionate vitriol from angry parents, disgruntled employees of the school, and especially from a group that opposes American civilization education for the students. For them, the old Navajo ways are the best ways-the only ways. The investigation is further complicated when two more murders occur on the reservation, and witnesses see a painted Indian rider on a light-gray horse around the time of those murders. Both of the new victims are associated with the reservation schools, and that introduces new suspects. The situation is so politically charged that Lt. Begay seeks help from his old friend from their early days as FBI agents, J.P.A.M.J. McGee, who is now a famous New York private detective. McGee and his partners arrive on the reservation, and shortly the case becomes more complicated and more political. There are strong forces-FBI agents, witch doctors, and tribal authorities--acting to make the case go away. Neither Begay nor McGee are prone to yield to pressure, and a tense and potentially dangerous situation develops.

The Boss's Daughters is the fifth novella of Carl Douglass's McGee series. Cinnamon and Paprika Paxton, daughters of a Harlem crime lord, and their security guards are kidnapped. The parents are forbidden by the kidnappers to involve the police; so, McGee & Associates are called in to help. The ransom demand is $25 Million, a sum covered by kidnap insurance. There are harrowing escape attempts, reprisals against the crime lord's competitors, and hitmen get involved, all aggravating the already hair-trigger tense situation. To satisfy the ransom demands, the children's mother must go to Bonn and Istanbul to get bearer bonds. When the ransom is paid, things get far more complicated; and the real story begins and spirals toward an end that no one could have expected.

Another Whistle Blower is the sixth and final novella of Carl Douglass's McGee series. Pharmacist Cecil Edgington strikes it rich when he joins a pharmaceutical consortium to market a cancer wonder drug. Or is it too good to be true? He learns a little more, begins to suspect much more; and finally, he gets downright scared. That is when he seeks to counsel, assistance, and protection of McGee & Associates. McGee uncovers a vast conspiracy, a dangerous cabal, and a labyrinthine source of riches beyond his greatest imaginations. Cecil has a life-altering decision to make: should he stay with the consortium and get rich? Or should he become a whistleblower and live as a fugitive? That decision is the stuff of a riveting book and a life's lesson.