Behead Me: A Cliff Knowles Mystery

by Russell Atkinson

Overview

Retired FBI agent Cliff Knowles thought he was being hired by a Fortune 500 company just to find out why their sales of spare parts were down. He soon learns that where there's money there's mayhem - and murder. His investigation brings him to southwestern Utah where he finds that an employee of the company he's investigating recently lost his head - literally. Coincidence? Not a chance. When Cliff decides to venture into the desert to hunt a geocache, he is unaware that he is being hunted, too. In this harrowing tale of greed and guile, Cliff's survival depends on his only weapon - his wits.Cliff's FBI agent wife, Ellen Kennedy, returns to work after her maternity leave ready to pursue criminals of all stripes. Instead she finds that she is assigned to a convicted drug dealer and heroin addict who once attacked Cliff, but to investigate her for an entirely unexpected reason - to help her get a presidential pardon!Once again Cliff and Ellen end up working together pursuing justice and geocaches in their own inimitable style.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781530039401
Publisher:	CreateSpace Publishing
Publication date:	02/23/2016
Series:	Cliff Knowles Mysteries , #6
Pages:	244
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.51(d)

About the Author

Russell Atkinson served as an FBI Special Agent for 25 years, where he specialized in high-technology crimes in Silicon Valley. He was the case agent on the first federal prosecution in California under the Economic Espionage Act. He was the first to investigate Raj Rajaratnam, the high-tech hedge fund manager who was convicted of massive insider trading in 2011. He worked on kidnapping cases and has arrested murderers and drug dealers. After retiring from the FBI he practiced law. With degrees in mathematics and law he worked for many high-tech firms in the computer industry including IBM, Fairchild Semiconductor, and AOL. He served as President of the American Cryptogram Association and has written extensively on cryptographic topics. He was Head Cryptographer for the movie The Red Machine, which was given a thumbs up by Roger Ebert. Now retired, he lives in Silicon Valley and spends time with his interests: running, geocaching, guitar, cryptography, and, of course, writing.

Editorial Reviews

2016-12-09
A case of corporate espionage becomes violent in a new mystery from Atkinson (Cached Out, 2015, etc.) featuring recurring hero Cliff Knowles, a smart, scrappy FBI agent. Cliff has traded in his badge for a quieter position as a licensed private investigator, and he hopes to settle down to a relatively normal life in California with his beloved wife, Ellen Kennedy, still an active FBI agent, and their infant son. He's soon contacted by Silicon Valley company Advanced Photolithics, or APL which makes equipment for computer chip manufacturers. Business has been bad lately, and API executives fear that someone has stolen their proprietary drawings and is now undercutting their prices for replacement parts. But a murder may also be in the mix, as Cliff discovers that an employee for Belcher Industries, an API vendor in rural Utah, might have had information that led to his mysterious death. Cliff investigates in Utah with the help of his old friend, retired agent Tim Rothman, and soon winds up in danger himself. Ellen and her partner also get involved in the case; a side plot has Ellen performing a background check on a woman seeking to get a pardon for a decades-old crime, and it turns out that the woman had once attacked Cliff in a drunken rage. This second storyline is well-written but doesn't fit in with the rest of the tale, even on a thematic level. Later, in a thrilling car chase, Cliff and Ellen go after one of the book's most dangerous villains; however, Atkinson barely describes another important baddie, despite the fact that the person is the ringleader of the entire affair. The story as a whole is fast-moving and snappily plotted, and it includes some especially tense sequences, such as when Cliff evades a killer in the scorching Nevada desert. Atkinson deserves credit for taking a dry premise for a mystery—the stolen goods are, after all, drawings of gaskets and valves—and creating an enjoyable story. An often engaging mystery from an author who will hopefully provide further series installments.

Kirkus Reviews