Go Deep Yankee Trash

Go Deep Yankee Trash

In the winter of 1993, Don Neworth, international dead-beat, and Ruth Cohen, infamous double agent, are having a stand-off on the snow and ice-covered stairs that lead up/down the famous HolmenKollen Ski Jump in Oslo, Normandy. They are not there to sight-see. She wears gloves. Don doesn’t. To Don, that’s not fair. Ruth is an undercover Hamas operator passing herself off as Mossad, the Israeli FBI. Don is a newshound who wants the big story so he can return to the USA in an explosion of literary fame instead of being a guy who dodged the Vietnam draft, drinks too much, and is always, always on the make. They met in Frankfort where Don worked for Stars & Stripes, Europe. He was covering an anti-Semitic incident involving him and she was posing as a member of the Mossad. Ruth’s extraordinarily beauty mesmerized Don into forgetting his quest for the big story. Maybe, he should have guessed something was wrong after the third time she drugged him and set him up ala Lee Harvey Oswald, “Deranged American Newsman Blows Up Oslo Accords.” He’d take the blame for the explosion that was designed to wipe out the Arab and Jewish peace negotiators. Don, in spite of his avowed cowardice, reluctantly tries to save their lives by driving them in a beat-up taxi with a blown-out windshield, through a snowstorm, dodging Uzi bullets, playing bumper tag at high speeds, and hiding in the famous Vigeland Park. All of which leads to the two antagonists’ rendezvous on the icy ski jump stairs. Really, it would only be fair it he had gloves too. Maybe he can take hers after she’s dead.

On Secret Service

It is America 1861 and North and South have never seemed further apart: the threat of civil war hangs heavy in the air... For Lon Price, the issue is simple. He has inherited from his Methodist father both a burning sense of right and wrong, and a desire to see an end to slavery. So much so that he is prepared to resign from the Pinkerton police agency to fight for the North. But his departure is not necessary, for the federal government is well aware of the agency's work, and in Lon they see a primie candidate for secret service... Margaret Miller is part of a family that prides itself on supporting the South: her father Calhoun is owner of the secession supporting Baltimore Independent; her brother Cicero has similar views, though the circles he moves in are considerably less law-abiding. When Calhoun is killed by a Yankee bullet, Margaret becomes as determined as Lon to uphold the ideals of her father... www.johnjakes.com

The True Sea