Bøger af Robert G Rogers

Reginald Conrad, State Senator and financial advisor with a less-than-ethical approach to resolving disputes with the IRS for his clients, is a successful businessman that nobody much likes. In fact, most people hate him. When Conrad decides to run for governor, he shows a more likable side, playing guitar at his campaign rallies and promising to improve opportunities and fair pay for women, and to bring more business to the state. His guitar-playing and campaign promises pay off, and he's leading in the polls when somebody hits him over the head with his guitar then shoots him with a .45 caliber automatic. It's a high-profile case the mayor is anxious to solve quickly, so Chief Jenkins asks Bishop Bone to help investigate. Bishop gets nowhere fast, but makes quite a few enemies in the process and gets shot at twice. When he does finally start making headway, another murder with the same gun sends all his theories out the window, and leaves him back at square one trying to ferret out a suspect with a motive for both the murders. As a last resort, Chief Jenkins agrees to Bishop's "bleating goat" ploy used by ranchers to attract mountain lions that are killing their cattle, in order to catch the killer. The only problem with that is, Bishop himself is the bleating goat and ends up in the killer's crosshairs.

San Diego's Chief of Police, Ellen Wasserman, is so busy fighting a new drug war, she calls on her old friend and private investigator, Bishop Bone, to help solve the murder of an arrogant and hot-headed local celebrity, Charlie "Snapper" Cornwall. Movie star handsome and wealthy, Snapper is rumored to leech off elderly women and known as the figurehead for a very prosperous Taco Wagons Investment Company. The company franchises "Taco Wagons" to sell tacos and other Mexican food on sidewalks in small towns, and sells bonds for working capital. For a fee he can't turn down, Bone agrees to help Ellen, and accepts a temporary position with the San Diego police to investigate Snapper's murder. He starts his investigation with the Taco Wagons Company, but finds only apparently happy franchisees and satisfied bond holders. Profitable for franchisee "waggoneers" and investors alike, Bone can't find anyone associated with the company who'd want Snapper - and the capital he was raising - dead. He interrogates the one man with a motive, Snapper's tennis partner, Vince Valley, a depressed, retired lawyer, who gives politically charged and opinionated "people talks" at the La Jolla Rec Center every Saturday morning about the problems everyone faces. Vince and Snapper's last tennis match ended abruptly with a fight that caused Vince to storm off the court and default the match to Bishop and his partner, Ellen. Before Bone can finish investigating him though, Vince is also killed. Now, Bone has two murders to solve. He turns his attentions back to investigating the business activities of The Taco Wagons Company, headed by Walter McNally, and eventually broadens his investigation to include anyone with whom Snapper and Vince had contact. The cases end up much more difficult than he expected, and every lead he gets is a dead end. Everybody hated Snapper but he couldn't find his killer. And nobody hated Vince enough to kill him it seemed. With many suspects, but no one he can point to as the killer, or killers, the Mayor threatens to take him off the case unless he can make some progress. Bishop is about ready to give up and fly back to his Mississippi home on Indian Creek, when his last hunch pays off. But when Bone gets close to discovering who did what and why, he's almost killed as well.

Bishop Bone generally tried to stay clear of politics, but something had to be done about the abysmal state of the roads in his district. The road to his house was so bad even its potholes had potholes. So when their incumbent supervisor announced he was running for re-election, Bishop hosts a neighborhood party to discuss getting the supervisor to fix the roads, but gets drafted into running against him instead.Rumors that the supervisors were running a kickback scheme surface, and one of the other candidates is murdered along with the incumbent. The incumbent's wife, Mary Anne, launches a vicious campaign to take his seat. Bishop soon finds his life is in danger too by someone trying to keep him from winning. He considers dropping out to help Chief Jenkin's find the two men's murderer, but wants to put an end to the kickback scheme so the roads can be repaired. Meanwhile, Lawton County is experiencing an expanding drug problem that Bone thinks might be related to the kickbacks. After the election Bishop uncovers the true connection with the campaign murders, making him the murderer's next target.