Detective Masuto investigates a Hollywood kidnapping that leads to a shocking conspiracyAngel is Hollywood royalty. Her husband, Mike Barton, is one of the silver screen’s most bankable stars, and their marriage has all the hallmarks of a Beverly Hills fairy tale. But everything about Angel’s past is kept secret, including her real name. When reporters ask why Mike dubbed her Angel, she says that she must have fallen from heaven. No one knows where Angel Barton is from, and now no one knows where she has gone. When his wife disappears, Barton readily agrees to a million dollar ransom demanded by her kidnappers, but Zen detective Masao Masuto doesn’t buy his performance. As Masuto pries into the strange kidnapping case, he finds that Barton might be much more likely to pay to get rid of his wife than to keep her. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Howard Fast including rare photos from the author’s estate.

A rare California deluge unearths a hidden body—and a decades-old crime Rain has spoiled Masao Masuto's vacation. For six days the storm has trapped the Zen Buddhist detective and his family inside their Los Angeles cottage. By the morning of his vacation's final day, he is so stir crazy that the call to come to work is a relief. Detective Masuto knows no better cure for boredom than a puzzling murder.   Nothing remains of the deceased man but his bones. A mudslide caused by the long, punishing storm destroyed the terrace of a Beverly Hills mansion, dislodging the swimming pool and opening a grave which had been covered for three decades. The skeleton's deep stab wound suggests a professional's hand—possibly a World War II veteran with commando training. As Masuto pries into the past, the aged murderer takes deadly steps to cover up his long-forgotten crime. The detective finds himself locked in a game of cat and mouse with a brilliant and ruthless killer.   This...