THERE IS A SERPENT IN PARADISE!
Ryan was a pilot, and a damn good one at that. Accepting an honorable discharge, he began a charter service in Hawaii where he thinks he has found peace in paradise- that is, until government agents approach him. A fission scientist has gone missing while on Maui, and they are sure the Third Reich is behind it. Confident of Ryan’s abilities and his knowledge of the islands, they ask him to discover what happened. This is only the beginning of an adventure that would take Ryan across three islands, facing larger than life dangers and ruthless adversaries, ever racing towards the brink of a horrifying discovery that could turn the course of the war and change the face of freedom for the entire world!
Praise for The Curse of the Crimson Dragon
Indiana Jones Meets Bulldog Drummond in this page-turner
It’s mid-1944 and the war against the Nazis in Europe still rages as does the war against Japan in the South Pacific. However, except for barricaded beaches and blackout curtains, life on Pearl Harbor has returned to normal after the attack of December 7, 1941.
Or has it?
Two mysterious men make a quiet arrival on the Pan Am Clipper and soon all hell breaks loose for “Rogue” Ryan, owner of a charter air service, and Reggie Manning, his trusted former-RAF sidekick. There quickly ensues a fight in a Chinese restaurant involving a pot of boiling oil, the appearance of an infamous Madame, and the disappearance of a crimson dragon hidden in a statue of the Buddha. Even with the dragon gone, the Buddha is still way too heavy for its size. Is there something else hidden there, and if so, what?
Ryan and Manning, an Indiana-Jones-meets-Bulldog-Drummond pairing if there ever was one, soon find themselves up to their you-know-what in, not only alligators, but a murder or two, runaway trains, fistfights galore, a submarine and a motorcycle chase.
Catastrophes seem to fall from the sky as the pair search for Doctor Vandershoot, a missing physicist and his daughter, Andrea. The pair may–or may not–have something to do with the contents of the Buddha. “Andie,” a blonde beauty, may look demure, but in true Carole Lombard fashion she’s as likely to flutter her eyelashes as to sock the heavy in the jaw. Of course Ryan falls for her big time, thus complicating the chase, to say nothing of his life.
The somewhat formal language of the narrative adds character and nuance to the story, the voice seeming to emerge from another day and time. One can picture author Tony Piazza plugging away at the story on an old Royal in a steamy Hawaiian hotel room, cigarette between tight lips, a full glass of gin, a gun and a moll at the ready.
All in all, “The Curse of the Crimson Dragon” adds up to a rollicking good read.