"It was while jogging along the beach just east of the Paradise Cove pier that Artie Wu tripped over a dead pelican, fell, and met the man with six greyhounds." - from Chinaman's Chance Thus begins what may be the most popular of Ross Thomas' unique stories. The combination of Wu, pretender to the Imperial throne of China, and Quincy Durant, who has his own colorful past, makes for a heady experience. After starting with the deceased pelican on a California beach, the plot mixes in the disappearance of a large sum of money that should have been buried in Vietnam, and the search for the missing member of a trio of singing sisters from the Ozarks. Only Thomas could have stirred this concoction with the style, humor, and suspense that captures the reader at the very beginning and doesn't let go until the last word.

Would you be wary if someone gave you the assignment of delivering five million dollars to a Philippine terrorist―never mind from whom or why? Booth Stallings, a terrorism expert just fired from his job at a bashful organization that never admitted its mount in the Washington merry-go-round, is wary. So wary that he cuts in con man "Otherguy" Overby, who in turn involves Artie Wu, pretender to the throne of China, and his partner, Quincy Durant. Obviously, good patriots don't want to hand over all that money to bad guys. Better they keep it for themselves. Which inevitably raises the Who among them will end up with the money?

Detective Arthur Wu of Wudu, Ltd. takes on a case involving two kinky British hypnotists and a Hollywood personality who is accused of gunning down her very wealthy ex-fiancé+a7. By the author of The Cold War Swap. 35,000 first printing. $35,000 ad/promo.