Shanghai

By Alex Abella

Jason Blue is a 1950s hard boiled detective out of San Francisco. He's hired to go down to pre-Castro, decadent Havana to find a rich American lost in the tropical turmoil of sex, drugs and politics. The result is nothing like anybody expected. Cynical, sexy and thrilling, Jason joins the ranks of world weary professionals like Sam Spade and Phillip Marlow, doing the job well, no matter the cost.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Alex Abella
• Release date: Feb 28, 2010
• ISBN: 9781452368382

Alex Abella

A New York Times Notable Book author, Emmy-nominated TV reporter and screenwriter, Alex Abella is the author of Soldiers of Reason: The Rand Corporation and the American Empire, a study of the world's most influential think tank, published by Harcourt. Alex was the first journalist to have full access to RAND's files in Santa Monica, California.Abella's non-fiction work includes Shadow Enemies, a non-fiction account of a plot by Adolf Hitler to start a wave of terror and destruction in the United States.Born in Cuba, Alex migrated with his family to the United States at age 10. Alex grew up in New York City, winning a Pulitzer Scholarship to Columbia University. Moving to California, Alex joined The San Francisco Chronicle as a general assignment reporter. Later Alex switched to electronic media and was hired at KTVU-TV, Channel 2 News, where he became producer, writer and reporter and was nominated for an Emmy for Best Breaking News Story.Alex moved to Los Angeles in the late 1980s to pursue a writing career. While in Los Angeles he worked as assistant to a private investigator and as a Los Angeles Superior Court interpreter. His experiences inspired him to write a legal thriller, The Killing of the Saints, featuring a Cuban-American hero, Charlie Morell, who's a lawyer and private investigator. The novel, published by Crown in 1991, was a New York Times Notable Book. Paramount Pictures optioned The Killing of the Saints and commissioned Alex to write the screenplay.Alex's second novel, The Great American, was published by Simon & Schuster in 1997. The Great American recounts the true adventures of William Morgan, a U.S. Marine who fought in the mountains of Cuba with Fidel Castro. The sequels to The Killing of the Saints, Dead of Night and Final Acts, were published in quick succession. The trilogy has won praise from critics and prominent writers such as Michael Connelly, T. Jefferson Parker and Robert Ferrigno.Alex is married and lives with his wife and children in the suburbs of Los Angeles.

Book preview

Shanghai

a story

by Alex Abella

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2010 Alex Abella

Discover other titles by Alex Abella at http://www.alexabella.com/

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The Chinaman lurched violently to the left, the impact of the slug blasting open his blue silk robe, drenched by the gush of blood out his side. Dropping his knife, he felt his ribs, his features distorted into a mask of incomprehension, as though it was inconceivable that he, of all people, should be on the receiving end of my smoking .45.

He stumbled backwards, bumping against the rickety wall, arms flailing, knocking down the porcelain vase with the tulips, the long clay opium pipe, the little smiling Buddha. The framed scroll with the hand-painted tigers fell on his lap as he eased down to the floor, his eyes wide in the knowledge of swift death.

It was only then that I heard the girl screaming. Dressed in the pasties and g-string of her chosen profession, Miss Raquel La Pasion’s full mocha breasts were aquiver with the emotion closest to lust, terror. She pointed at the dying Chink and let out a loud string of Spanish curses as she cowered behind the shirtless tow-haired boy. Tall and lanky, with the soft features of the country club set, the boy held a .38 in his trembling hands. He fired, the bullet smashing into a fruit bowl. I jumped over the settee, grabbed the gun out of his limp hands, and then I slapped the girl, hard.

Cállate!"

She whimpered, hid behind the boy.

Dave Souther? I asked, as I slipped his gun into my jacket pocket. The show tunes from