Цикл книг «Уиллоус и Паркер» — 13 книг

Лоуренс Гоуф живет в Ванкувере, пишет пьесы для Канадского радио. В предлагаемом читателю сборнике представлены три произведения автора, являющиеся началом его популярной серии романов, в которых главными героями выступают детективы из полиции Ванкувера Джек Уиллоус и Клер Паркер.

Лоуренс Гоуф живет в Ванкувере, пишет пьесы для Канадского радио. В предлагаемом читателю сборнике представлены три произведения автора, являющиеся началом его популярной серии…

The body of a man, strangely frozen in a lotus position, has been found in a Chinese ornamental garden. Around the same time, two young men decide to go beyond petty theft, and a housewife can't seem to shake the memory of her handsome car jacker. Strangely enough, these three events become intertwined and Parker and Willows must sort everything out.

The body of a man, strangely frozen in a lotus position, has been found in a Chinese ornamental garden. Around the same time, two young men decide to go beyond petty theft, and a…

Greg is a coke addict, weapons freak, professional heartbreaker, master of disguise – and bank robber. But his latest hold-up goes sour: there is a violent fight and a man is killed. Greg makes his escape with the victim’s briefcase, to find it full of not money, but computer print-outs.

Willows and Parker are handed what rapidly becomes a hideously complex investigation. The dead man turns out to be a plainclothes Panamanian police officer, in Vancouver for unspecified reasons. It also proves impossible to build up any sort of profile of the chameleon-like killer…for what Willows and Parker can’t know is that the man they’re after is motivated by far more than a simple love of money.

Greg is a coke addict, weapons freak, professional heartbreaker, master of disguise – and bank robber. But his latest hold-up goes sour: there is a violent fight and a man is…

It is mid-winter when the body of Dr. Gerard Roth is found floating in the killer-whale pool in Vancouver's main aquarium. Although he is known to enjoy tempting fate by swimming amongst the more dangerous mammals in the aquarium's collection, there are signs that he met his death at human hands. Detectives Jack Willows and Claire Parker are called in to investigate.
Meanwhile, feckless, unemployed actor Chris Spacy believes he actually witnessed Roth's body being dumped in the pool, but he's not exactly sure his blurred memory wasn't a drug-induced hallucination. With blackmail on his mind, he goes after the likely killer - an action that provokes further bloodshed, and complicates an already-murky case for the two detectives.
"Killers, "which marks the seventh appearance of detectives Willows and Parker, is a strong addition to Laurence Gough's much-acclaimed and award-winning series.

It is mid-winter when the body of Dr. Gerard Roth is found floating in the killer-whale pool in Vancouver's main aquarium. Although he is known to enjoy tempting fate by swimming…

Shelley has it made. Not only is he tall, dark, and handsome, but he is blessed with a great body, a decided comfort to someone who truly believes that “skin deep is plenty deep enough.” Moreover, he has arranged his life in a way that affords him maximum enjoyment for minimum effort. He moves from one classy house-sitting job to another, supporting himself with petty theft and the occasional bouncing job in downtown Vancouver bars, using his spare time to work on his tan, develop his pecs, and polish his snazzy Datsun SX300.

But on one fine hot day in August, Shelley makes two big mistakes. First, he breaks into a car belonging to off-duty police detectives Jack Willows and Claire Parker – and he lets himself be seen doing so by an old beachcomber with a good memory. Second, he picks up a particularly gorgeous beach-bunny named Bo, red-haired, long-limbed, and strong-willed, who works in real estate and says she’d just love to see where Shelley lives.

That same night, Detectives Willows and Parker are called to a murder scene in a luxury penthouse condominium. The victim – the real-estate agent handling the sale of the condo – was, everyone agrees, a bit of a louse, an enthusiastic-though-overconfident womanizer, and a pretty poor salesman. Recently, however, he’s had money to burn, and he had been receiving visits from a sexy redhead.

Shelley, meanwhile, is astonished to find how quickly Bo has wormed her way into his car, his house, and his life – but there are clouds on the horizon. Former “business associates” of Bo’s want her back, and are willing to play very rough to get her.

When events bring everyone together, the results are explosive.

Shelley has it made. Not only is he tall, dark, and handsome, but he is blessed with a great body, a decided comfort to someone who truly believes that “skin deep is plenty deep…

Ross has done his four-year bit and is out on parole.

He has few good memories of the slammer, though he did form a friendship with Garret, a con who was doing twenty-five years for robbing an armoured car and murdering the guards. Garret’s partner in the heist, Billy, got away with two hundred and twenty thousand dollars, but was later found dead – and penniless. The money was never recovered.

Garret’s life in prison revolved around his relationship with his girlfriend, Shannon. Over the years, as Garret told Ross the stories of their romance over and over again, Ross had come to feel he knew Shannon as well as if he had been her boyfriend. When Garret, still doing time, died of stomach cancer, Ross and Shannon became pen pals.

Now he’s out, and she’s eager to see him and relive events that strangely mirror her relationship with Garret. Is Shannon falling in love with Ross? Or is it his connection with Garret and the missing money that she finds so alluring?

Meanwhile,Vancouver police detectives Jack Willows and Claire Parker are investigating the murder of a city police officer, who had a very arcane sex life. But is that the key to his death?

Once again, Laurence Gough brilliantly evokes the sights and sounds of Vancouver, as Willows and Parker do whatever it takes to solve the murder of a fellow cop, no matter where the investigation leads them…

Ross has done his four-year bit and is out on parole.

He has few good memories of the slammer, though he did form a friendship with Garret, a con who was doing twenty-five…

Ozzie believes he’s planned the perfect crime. Wealthy stock promoter Harold Wismer is having an affair with a woman named Melanie Martel. Ozzie and his buddy Dean will kidnap Harold as he leaves Melanie’s apartment, and then demand a five-million-dollar ransom from Harold’s loving wife, Joan. Harold is famous locally for his loud mouth, endless cigars, and banana-yellow suits. He can easily afford five million. The original Trampoline Man, he’s suffered numerous multi-million-dollar losses playing the market, and always bounced back.

This is Ozzie’s second attempt at snatching a wealthy promoter. His first time out was a disaster – especially for his victim. Ozzie views the first kidnapping as a high-intensity learning experience. He’s a quick study. This time he’ll get it right. Or so he thinks.

Unfortunately Ozzie is unaware that ancient-but-still-sharp-toothed mobster Jake Cappalletti also has a lively pecuniary interest in Harold. Ozzie’s young and quick. But Jake is old, and methodical.

Vancouver police detectives Jack Willows and Claire Parker are assigned the task of investigating Harold’s sudden and violent disappearance. Willows balks. His son, Sean, has been critically wounded in a convenience-store holdup, and Willows, distraught, doesn’t want to abandon that case. But he is soon convinced that the two crimes are related, and the furiously paced hunt is on.

Ozzie believes he’s planned the perfect crime. Wealthy stock promoter Harold Wismer is having an affair with a woman named Melanie Martel. Ozzie and his buddy Dean will kidnap…

Vancouver’s streets are awash with unusually pure heroin. Addicts are dying like flies, but in this port city at the far end of the continent, junkies are a dime a baker’s dozen, and nobody’s counting. Then several dealers join the parade of the newly dead – and all of them worked for ancient crime kingpin Jake Cappalletti. The cops sniff a pattern.

Then there’s April. She was lap-dancing when she met Wayne. He swept her off her feet at the end of her shift, just as soon as he’d finished dumping her parasitic ex-boyfriend into the trunk of his Caddy. Part of Wayne’s appeal is his raw ambition. He intends to replace Jake.

April wants to be a contributing factor in her new man’s climb to the top. When the killing stops, Wayne’s going to need a fall guy, somebody to play multiple-murderer-for-a-day. So April kidnaps Lewis, a semi-successful con artist, and teaches him some very bad habits. Wayne’s so busy with murder and mayhem that he neglects April, and pretty soon she starts to believe she might be falling in love with Lewis.

But, as usual, she could be wrong.

Meanwhile, as the homicide squad engages in an intensive hunt for the most prolific killer in the city’s history, police detectives Jack Willows and Claire Parker have other – more personal – concerns. Willows, finally divorced, is free to marry Parker. But sometimes freedom’s just another word for plenty left to lose. Claire wants children; Jack already has two. As the investigation heats up, Willows believes that he and Parker won’t have time to spare for nagging domestic issues.

Like April, he could be wrong

Vancouver’s streets are awash with unusually pure heroin. Addicts are dying like flies, but in this port city at the far end of the continent, junkies are a dime a baker’s dozen,…

Chantal ran away from home to escape her abusive father. Now she’s on the run again, wanted by the police as a “person of interest” in the suspicious death of her equally abusive pimp boyfriend.

Hector and Carlos do piecework for ancient Vancouver kingpin Jake Cappalletti. They’re on their way to Jake’s mini-mansion with ten million bogus U.S. dollars destined for the unsophisticated Russian market when Jake is felled by a stroke. Marty, Jake’s heir apparent, fears a palace revolt. He tells Carlos and Hector to hold on to the cash until Jake recovers or the situation stabilizes. But Carlos is the kind of guy who’d use a pair of bolt-cutters to liberate a Safeway shopping cart rather than temporarily spend a quarter. And Hector is the kind of guy who’d risk paying a hooker like Chantal with Jake’s counterfeit twenties rather than spend his own hard-earned cash.

Now Chantal’s running from the cops and Carlos and Hector.

Detectives Jack Willows and Claire Parker are searching for Chantal, but they also have problems of their own. Jack’s daughter is in her first year at U.B.C. So far, all she’s learned is how to party. Parker, watching Jack’s kids grow up, is acutely aware of the swift passage of time. She’s wanted children for years, and has finally reached the point where she isn’t willing to wait any longer.

Fast, wisecracking, and full of action, Funny Money is sure to appeal to both new readers and to loyal fans of Laurence Gough.

Chantal ran away from home to escape her abusive father. Now she’s on the run again, wanted by the police as a “person of interest” in the suspicious death of her equally abusive…

The thirteenth mystery featuring Detective Jack Willows and Claire Parker

Harvey is finally out of prison, with a whole lot of living to do – and a burning desire to pull off a monstrous score that will save him from the workaday world.

He also wants his old life back. But his wife, Kim, has been doing some living of her own. To supplement the returns from her tattoo business, she has taken on a little crime, in partnership with Harvey’s old friend, Matt Singh. In fact, they are planning a million-dollar diamond robbery when Matt is gunned down in a mall parking lot.

This seems fortuitous for Harvey, but Kim has other plans. She’s now head-over-heels in lust with Sandy, a younger man with a very private life. Sandy seems equally smitten with the planned diamond heist. But to pull it off they need a getaway driver.

Harvey doesn’t need to be asked twice. He still wants things the way they were and, to him, the only thing standing in his path is Sandy.

Meanwhile, Willows and Parker, now married, are dealing with birth, parenthood – and other crucial matters.

The thirteenth mystery featuring Detective Jack Willows and Claire Parker

Harvey is finally out of prison, with a whole lot of living to do – and a burning desire to pull off…