Billy Boyle (46 page)
“The army? Oh no, he is a student at the university. He is studying philosophy. You will meet him this morning. He is one of the leaders of the students.”
Now, I always thought I had a good sense of the odds for or against me when things got tough. Back in Boston, when I was walking a beat, they were usually in my favor, unless I did something stupid, like walking alone in Chinatown after rousting a couple of tong boys. In England, I’d kept a low profile when I could. I did make a side trip to occupied Norway, but that was personal, so it didn’t really count. But as we got into the car, I began to calculate. There was me, Harding, and this French kid who probably spent more time trimming his moustache than cleaning his rifle. We were way out in front of the U.S. Army, heading into an enemy capital, to help a bunch of spies and college kids—philosophy students, no less—take over a military headquarters. I did the math as best I could, and determined that our odds of survival were roughly equivalent to that of the Red Sox winning the World Series.
“Are you a baseball fan, Major?” I asked Harding.
“Sure. Ever since West Point I’ve been a big fan of the New York Yankees.”
“Figures.”
O
THER
T
ITLES
IN THE
S
OHO
C
RIME
S
ERIES
Q
UENTIN
B
ATES
(Iceland)
Frozen Assets
C
HERYL
B
ENARD
(Pakistan)
Moghul Buffet
J
AMES
R. B
ENN
(World War II Europe)
Billy Boyle
The First Wave
Blood Alone
Evil for Evil
Rag & Bone
C
ARA
B
LACK
(Paris, France)
Murder in the Marais
Murder in Belleville
Murder in the Sentier
Murder in the Bastille
Murder in Clichy
Murder in Montmarte
Murder on the Ile Saint-Louis
Murder in the Rue de Paradis
Murder in the Latin Quarter
Murder in the Palais Royale
Murder in Passy
G
RACE
B
ROPHY
(Italy)
The Last Enemy
A Deadly Paradise
H
ENRY
C
HANG
(Chinatown)
Chinatown Beat
Year of the Dog
Red Jade
C
OLIN
C
OTTERILL
(Laos)
The Coroner’s Lunch
Thirty-Three Teeth
Disco for the Departed
Anarchy and Old Dogs
Curse of the Pogo Stick
The Merry Misogynist
Love Songs from a Shallow Grave
G
ARRY
D
ISHER
(Australia)
The Dragon Man
Kittyhawk Down
Snapshot
Chain of Evidence
Blood Moon
Wyatt
D
AVID
D
OWNING
(World War II Germany)
Zoo Station
Silesian Station
Stettin Station
Potsdam Station
L
EIGHTON
G
AGE
(Brazil)
Blood of the Wicked
Buried Strangers
Dying Gasp
Every Bitter Thing
M
ICHAEL
G
ENELIN
(Slovakia)
Siren of the Waters
Dark Dreams
The Magician’s Accomplice
Requiem for a Gypsy
A
DRIAN
H
YLAND
(Australia)
Moonlight Downs
Gunshot Road
S
TAN
J
ONES
(Alaska)
White Sky, Black Ice
Shaman Pass
Village of the Ghost Bears
G
RAEME
K
ENT
(Solomon Islands)
Devil-Devil
M
ARTIN
L
IMÓN
(South Korea)
Jade Lady Burning
Slicky Boys
Buddha’s Money
The Door to Bitterness
The Wandering Ghost
G.I. Bones
P
ETER
L
OVESEY
(Bath, England)
The Last Detective
The Vault
On the Edge
The Reaper
Rough Cider
The False Inspector Dew
Diamond Dust
Diamond Solitaire
The House Sitter
The Summons
Bloodhounds
Upon a Dark Night
The Circle
The Secret Hangman
P
ETER
L
OVESEY
(CONT.)
The Headhunters
Skeleton Hill
Stagestruck
J
ASSY
M
ACKENZIE
(South Africa)
Random Violence
Stolen Lives
S
EICH
M
ATSUMOTO
(Japan)
Inspector Imanishi Investigates
J
AMES
M
C
C
LURE
(South Africa)
The Steam Pig
The Caterpillar Cop
The Gooseberry Fool
Snake
J
AN
M
ERETE
W
EISS
(Italy)
These Dark Things
M
AGDALEN
N
ABB
(Italy)
Death of an Englishman
Death of a Dutchman
Death in Springtime
Death in Autumn
The Marshal and the Madwoman
The Marshal and the Murderer
The Marshal’s Own Case
The Marshal Makes His Report
The Marshal at the
Villa Torrini
Property of Blood
Some Bitter Taste
The Innocent
Vita Nuova
S
TUART
N
EVILLE
(Northern Ireland)
The Ghosts of Belfast
Collusion
E
LIOT
P
ATTISON
(Tibet)
Prayer of the Dragon
The Lord of Death
R
EBECCA
P
AWEL
(1930s Spain)
Death of a Nationalist
Law of Return
The Watcher in the Pine
The Summer Snow
Q
IU
X
IAOLONG
(China)
Death of a Red Heroine
A Loyal Character Dancer
When Red is Black
M
ATT
B
EYNON
R
EES
(Palestine)
The Collaborator of Bethlehem
A Grave in Gaza
The Samaritan’s Secret
The Fourth Assassin
J
OHN
S
TRALEY
(Alaska)
The Woman Who Married a Bear
The Curious Eat Themselves
A
KIMITSU
T
AKAGI
(Japan)
The Tattoo Murder Case
Honeymoon to Nowhere
The Informer
H
ELENE
T
URSTEN
(Sweden)
Detective Inspector Huss
The Torso
The Glass Devil
J
ANWILLEM
VAN DE
W
ETERING
(Holland)
Outsider in Amsterdam
Tumbleweed
The Corpse on the Dike
Death of a Hawker
The Japanese Corpse
The Blond Baboon
The Maine Massacre
The Mind-Murders
The Streetbird
The Rattle-Rat
Hard Rain
Just a Corpse at Twilight
Hollow-Eyed Angel
The Perfidious Parrot
Amsterdam Cops: Collected Stories