In another age, it was not uncommon for a tailor to offer an extra pair of pants with each suit as an incentive to purchase. Lawrence Sanders has created the literary equivalent of this ploy by combining three novellas concerning the activities of Timothy Cone of Haldering and Company--an organization which provides "financial intelligence" for corporate and individual clients--into a single volume.
Cone is a sartorial slob and a gastronomic goat, but nevertheless possesses a keen insight into the ways in which the financial ungodly attempt to defraud their fellows. Thus, he is quick to discover and eliminate yet another insider-trading scheme with a most original modus operandi, unearths a plan to rig the stock of various corporations for fun and profit, and foils the hostile takeover by the Chinese Mafia of a small family corporation.
TIMOTHY'S GAME offers an assortment of colorful characters calculated to amuse and mystify, a welter of Yiddish slang to expand the vocabulary, and exotic descriptions of Cone's diet. Nevertheless, just as the tailor's extra pair of trousers skimped on the cloth, this collection by the prolific Sanders is lean on dialogue and descriptive passages. Still, those who are unfamiliar or somewhat vague about exactly how Wall Street works will find this novel and its predecessor, THE TIMOTHY FILES, a useful fictional introduction to the subject.
Playboy/detective Archy McNally specializes in ""discreet cases"" for his father's stodgy and proper Palm Beach law firm. When he is called on to retrieve a set of rare stamps know as ""Inverted Jennies"" from one of Palm Beach's wealthiest and most curvacious matrons, Archy soon gets much more that he bargained for...
A local collector is slain and all roads lead Archy back to the original crime scene; but before he can put the pieces together, he faces another murder and all-to-real romance.
Full of the sultry characters and comic action that are Lawrence Sanders' trademarks, McNally's Secret shows a master of mystery at the top of his game.
As an investigator for his father's Palm Beach law firm, Archy McNally has discreetly handled scores of unusual cases for the firm's upscale clientele. But when Sunny Fogarty, the attractive comptroller for Whitcomb Funeral Homes, approaches McNally & Son to investigate an unexplained rise in her company's fortunes, Archy soon finds himself conducting a most peculiar investigation.
Secrets, surprises, and at least one dead body come out of the closet in the Palm Beach P.I.'s most twisted case yet.
When self-styled impresario and former human cannonball Matthew Hayes rents a luxury villa on Palm Beach's famed South Ocean Boulevard, the locals roll their eyes. But when he scuttles the traditional backyard accoutrements of swimming pool and tennis court in favor of a grand garden hedge maze modeled after the one at Hampton Court, the South Florida smart set can't wait for their invitations -- to the gala opening of the Amazin' Maze of Matthew Hayes.
The big night arrives and gasps of wonder and delight are replaced by those of horror, as Hayes's ladylove is discovered at the center of the maze, very dead indeed. The authorities are stumped, as Hayes's carnival background gives rise to a number of possible suspects. Or are there other forces -- and more devious minds -- at work? Hayes's flair for the dramatic only complicates a mystery that has more false leads than his Amazin' Maze. It's up to Archy McNally to see through the scam and catch a killer.
Hiram Gottschalk is a wealthy widower and a man desperate to save himself from an unknown stalker. He hires Palm Beach sleuth Archy McNally, who is convinced he'll soon return his client's life to order -- but then Gottschalk is stabbed in his sleep, and two of his clerks are abducted and killed in the Everglades. It takes all McNally's skill to put together the pieces.
The dowager duchess of Palm Beach dies, leaving behind a fabulous fortune and a handsome young heir -- and Archy McNally is left trying to figure out who's who.
When a young waiter working Malcolm "Nifty" MacNiff's annual Tennis Everyone! benefit is found dead in Nifty's otherwise pristine swimming pool, it's Archy McNally, south Florida's most famous Discreet Inquirer, who rushes in to salvage the town's reputation and solve the unfortunate crime. Palm Beach is already in a tizzy over the arrival of its newest millionaire, Lance Talbot, just in from Switzerland to claim his inheritance after the demise of his grandmother.
Poor Jeff Rodgers has barely been pulled from the water when Palm Beach's rumor mill goes into overdrive. Why has Dennis Darling, crack reporter for Bare Facts magazine, descended on the fair island? Just how did handsome Lance escape that avalanche that took his mother's life, and brought him back to his Florida family? And just who is the alluring Baroness Holga von Brecht, the well-preserved woman on Lance's arm whose ageless features have Palm Beach matrons lusting after her beauty secrets? When an old school chum of Holga's is made redundant, Archy works overtime to snare a double murderer.
Palm Beach private investigator Archy McNally takes on the murder of a socialite and uncovers a thorny tangle of blackmail and deceit, south Florida style.
Playboy Geoffrey Williams is dead. But it's not a search for the killer that brings Archy McNally to the case; the lovely Melva Williams readily admits to the crime passionnel. After finding Geoff in a precarious position with an attractive young lady, she pulled the trigger on husband number two. It sounds like an open-and-shut case for McNally & Sons' Department of Discreet Inquiries until Melva asks Archy to shield her daughter, Veronica, from the press and paparazzi. Gallant Archy takes the case -- and escorts grown-up and gorgeous Veronica home to the McNally manse. Rumors fly, and some of them may be true.
Veronica is no damsel in distress though, and she's certainly not sorry her stepfather is in the grave. When her story doesn't match Melva's, which doesn't match Geoff's, Archy realizes he does indeed have a dilemma on his hands. Someone's lying, and the one person who knows the truth -- Geoff's perky playmate -- has gotten away.
A delectable combination of high society and high jinks, and featuring some of the most eccentric characters to populate Florida's Gold Coast, McNally's Dilemma is as witty and charming as Archy McNally himself.
Only Lawrence Sanders could have created this saga of a family that breaks all the rules--both God's and man's. Moving from the seventies to the nineties, Guilty Pleasures invites readers into the affluent arena of shocking acts and stunning revelations that is the South Florida world of the Folsby clan. Emmet Richard Folsby: Founder of a mighty publishing empire, a patriarch to be admired--with one unspeakable exception Constance Louise Folsby: Emmet's wife and cofounder of the empire, now an invalid dying by degrees--resolutely blind to the moral missteps of those she cares for Barbara Ann Folsby: The wildcat daughter--a fiercely ambitious businesswoman--inexorably lured to love at its most forbidden Brett Sherwood Folsby: The dashing playboy son, his sister's most bitter antagonist--and a man with sexual secrets of his own Through two decades, the Folsbys embrace their checkered destinies as Barbara and Brett battle for future control of the empire--never guessing that a trusted family friend with a hidden agenda is quietly manipulating them all. Lawrence Sanders's Guilty Pleasures flawlessly blends suspense and scandal to create a unique reading experience that jolts even as it fascinates.
Palm Beach bon vivant and playboy sleuth Archy McNally returns in another tale of love and larceny among the wealthy denizens of south Florida.
Archy lives a life most people only dream about. As Chief of Discreet Inquiries at his father's white-shoe law firm, Archy keeps tabs on the rich and famous while keeping hours only a barfly could love. When well-to-do widow Edythe Westmore is urged to buy a Faberge Imperial egg, her adult offspring violently oppose the investment and enlist Archy's services to put the kibosh on the deal.
As he investigates the bona fides of the bejeweled trinket, mysterious machinations of the siblings, family advisors, and an aged antiques dealer are revealed, and Archy is thrust into a whirling vortex of greed, passion, and murder that even he must fight to rise above.
Mixing drama with highjinks, McNALLY'S GAMBLE is Lawrence Sanders's most delectable offering yet.
He's suave, he's sexy, he's Archy McNally--the wickedly charming sleuth who has delighted fans in Lawrence Sanders's scandalously entertaining bestsellers, McNally's Risk and McNally's Luck. Now the Palm Beach P. I. unravels the ultimate low-down caper of high society--when a priceless first edition of Edgar Allan Poe disappears from the Forsythe family mansion. The house itself is as grand and mysterious as the House of Usher--and twice as twisted. Behind every door is a suspect. In every bed, a seductress. And in every closet, a skeleton or two. McNally knows it takes more than a thief to cause the fall of the house of Forsythe. But then his wealthy client is strangled to death...
What happens when the U.S. Army wants a drug to enhance the performance of soldiers in combat? Gregory Barrow is assigned by McWhortle Laboratory to create the ZAP pill - a formula to increase the human body's testosterone level. But the mild mannered chemist doesn't realize the danger, or the black-market value, of his research.
Marleen Todd, Barrow's neighbor and co-worker, is on a much different mission - to create a new hormone-influenced fragrance that will revolutionize the perfume industry, moving beyond attraction to emotional effects.
As Barrow and Todd delve deeper into their work, they discover frightening side effects that could result in either the destruction or salvation of their already fragile family lives. And as a plot to steal the ZAP formula builds, the lives of everyone involved become intertwined as they seek to enhance their private pleasures.
A Murderous Maze of Sun-Drenched Scandal
When elegant, drop-dead gorgeous Theodosia Johnson steps ashore in Palm Beach, even the most jaded roving eyes stop to notice. Sophisticated champagne heir Chauncy Wilson Sackville-Hersforth is equally enchanted by this mysterious beauty, but when he proposes marriage to her, Chauncy's mother isn't nearly so impressed.
Archy McNally, the brilliant, blithe-spirited hero of McNally's Luck and McNally's Secret returns to unravel the puzzle surrounding Miss Johnson. However, he too falls under her romantic spell...and bodies begin to appear like uninvited guests at a poolside dinner party.
Shocking, swank, and more fun than a weekend in Palm beach, McNally's Risk is full of sure-fire suspense that only Lawrence Sanders can deliver.
