The 56th Man Series

A former member of Saddam Hussein's Special Security Force arrives in Richmond, Virginia. Under the name of Ari Ciminon, he sets up house on the James River. The house was purchased for him by the U.S. Marshals Service, which is responsible for watching over him while he supplies intelligence to CENTCOM. Because he is fluent in Italian (as well as a host of other languages) he is presented to his new neighbors as an Italian of Arab descent. Ari learns on his first day that the previous occupants, Jerry and Moria Riggins and their two sons, were murdered in their home nine months ago. The murders are unsolved. Ari has plenty of free time on his hands and sets out to solve the crime--in his own peculiar way.

In his third outing, Ari Ciminon (The 56th Man) is enlisted by one of his neighbors to search for her missing husband. Feeling out of place in his new home, he thinks this is the perfect way to establish his 'tribal' credentials. But what begins as a hunt for a runaway spouse quickly spirals out of control. The missing husband is not only a crook, but he becomes a target for the Chaldean Mafia when he unintentionally steals a list of illegal Iraqi immigrants. This leads Ari to a Korean 'crash-for-cash' operation, a maimed ex-Marine and a group of college students terrorized into committing atrocities on American soil. Enlisting the aid of Abu Jasim (his ever-greedy Saddam Hussein-lookalike companion), Abu Jasim's nephew, Ahmad, and an ex-serviceman, Ari sets out to retrieve the immigrant database—only to come upon a mysterious DVD that presents him with evidence that Saddam Hussein's legacy not only lives…but threatens the world.

Once again, Ari Ciminon (Ghaith Ibrahim, The 56th Man) sets out to defeat his foes. For almost a year he has been identifying radical insurgents for the U.S. Government. Only now, he has a new adversary: his employer. Ever since his arrival in Virginia he has suspected a hidden nemesis: someone, or some entity, who seeks his destruction. Can he turn the tables on him? Or them? Confronted by the CIA, the FBI, the Treasury Department, CENTCOM, the U.S. Deputy Marshal and even the local social services agency, Ari brings in his friends, Abu Jasim and Ahmad, to help him wreak his own special vengeance. But the clock is ticking, the odds are stacked against him, and Ari's lust for justice could very well land him in a grave….

Ari Ciminon (The 56th Man), former member of Saddam Hussein's Special Security Force, has dealt with crooked cops, drug rings and maniacal assassins. Now he is tucked away in a safe house in Richmond, Virginia, continuing his task of identifying Iraqi insurgents for American military intelligence. Protected by the U.S. Marshals Service, he still manages to get into hot water when he innocently volunteers to translate for an Arab prisoner accused of being a car thief. This leads him to a gruesome murder, an encounter with a deadly assassin and a meeting with the most reviled and despicable member of the Saddam Hussein regime. Only his wits and an old comrade keep him alive as he takes history into his own hands.

Homophobic Ari Ciminon (The 56th Man) almost meets his match when he searches for a young man who has run off with the Thebans, a group of gay bicyclists for whom fitness is paramount.  Joey Haider, the son of an official at the Iraqi Consulate, eludes his bodyguard in Richmond.  Called in to translate for the guard, Ari quickly becomes embroiled in the search for the boy.  This puts him in far more peril than he had anticipated, including a run-in with MS-13.  This is not helped by his open antagonism towards the gay community.  Even when it appears he will not make a dime for his efforts, his hunt is relentless.  It takes him to places he would have once avoided like the plague: a gay hostel, a gay club and a house in an unlikely hamlet tucked away in the Virginia backwoods where the Thebans are targeted for execution.  All the while he is shadowed by the mysterious Peter Pan, who might or might be a guardian angel.  Ultimately, though, his most dangerous adversary turns out to be his own bad back.

Ari Ciminon's fifth outing involves him in parallel races against time. One takes place in 2006, when he joins a diverse group of mercenaries in an attempt to rescue a kidnapped Iraqi translator. A team of Nepalese Gurkhas and ex-Fijian soldiers, led by a British ex-pat, fight their way through the streets of southern Baghdad on a night of particular historic menace. Two years later in Richmond, Virginia, Colonel Ghaith Ibrahim (now Ari Ciminon) is hired by an insurance company to investigate truck hijackings across the state. The targeted freight carrier is owned by the remarkable Nabihah Sadiq, a woman divided between the East and the West, who has opened her mansion to Muslim women from all over the Middle East, as well as the States. Some have been battered, others are opting for a different life. But all of them share a secret. They also share a deadly enemy: 'the Namus'. An ancient concept, 'namus' was once a simple set of ethical principles that stood for virtue and modesty within the family. Unfortunately, in later times it became associated with honor killings. Up and down the East Coast, women have died in staged accidents and suicides. Convinced that someone has hired a killer to eliminate apostate women, Nabihah begins calling the unknown assassin the Namus. Realizing Nabihah and her 'guests' will become targets, Ari is quickly drawn into the hunt.

Summoned out of his safe house by his handlers, Ari Ciminon (The 56th Man) is shown CCTV footage of a group of men arriving at Richmond International Airport. The group is comprised of: lawyer Benjamin Cassin (nicknamed 'the Rabbi' by his admirers); his bodyguard, Henry Jones (an African-American who has converted to Judaism); a small man dressed as a woman, who turns out to be a deadly assassin; and a mysterious Turk whom neither the FBI nor Mossad has been able to identify. Ari immediately supplies the Turk's name. But the puzzle is far from solved. An empty carry-on left behind by the new arrivals casts a sinister light on the group, and suspicion deepens when the Turk abruptly disappears. Once his business at the airport is concluded, Ari is ordered back to his safe house. Sensing an opportunity for profit that he cannot ignore, he disobediently sets out to find the missing man—only to discover the body of the fabulously wealthy Miriam Fleckenstein, a widow who resides in a mansion outside of Richmond. The mystery culminates in a grand inquisition at a basketball court, where Ari (with the assistance of maimed former Marine Elmore Lawson, an insurance company investigator) picks through a weed field of killers and con-men to expose the truth—and reveal the unique location of the will. Miriam Fleckenstein returns from the dead…and puts everyone in their place.

Ari Ciminon (the 56th Man) appreciates beautiful birds and well-crafted weapons. He yearns for a luxury sedan suitable to his aesthetic palate (a Maserati Quattroporte would suit him nicely). But, after his wife, nothing gives him more reason to celebrate life than fine cuisine. He has adapted reasonably well to fast food since being brought to America to provide Michelin-quality intelligence for the war in Iraq. Yet his discovery of French chef Marie Mumford came as a godsend to his grease-soaked gullet. Her beef bourguignon and simple but elegant soupe de poisson à la rouille invariably leave him mad for more. Her high prices are of small matter to someone of Ari's discerning taste. Of late, however, Madame Mumford has been remiss in her visits to Ari's safe house in Richmond. This is due, in part, to the needs of her husband's parents. Willy and Ruth Mumford live in a small community near Quantico. Suffering from two different forms of dementia, the isolated couple are cared for by their youngest son, Frank. William Mumford, their older son, is convinced Frank has become involved with shady characters who put his parents at risk. In order to get Power of Attorney over them, William and Marie want to enlist Ari to investigate the situation. If he can provide proof that confirms their fears, the reward will be a year's worth of weekly free meals from the inestimable Madame Mumford. Greedy and hungry to a fault, Ari quickly agrees, though fully aware the job includes changing Willy's Depends. But Ari is not aware that the situation is far worse than imagined. Frank Mumford has become ensnared in a ring that distributes OxyContin throughout the counties north of Fredericksburg. The drug is legal. The means used to attain it are not. And the ring members are not adverse to using torture and murder in order to maintain control over their territory. Ari is stretched to the limit as he deals with murderous thugs, demented parents, a wily au pair, a semi-amorous invalid, a daily diet of microwavable sausage biscuits, FBI agents practicing their stalking skills and ground-attack aircraft making practice runs over the neighborhood. The battle between him and the drug gang culminates at a sunrise service on the Potomac River, where he learns everyone and everything is…damned. It is most disconcerting.

As a doula hired to provide guidance and support to pregnant women, Amani Abdelhamid's foremost concern is for the well-being of mothers and their much-anticipated newborns.  One of her appointments goes terribly awry when she arrives to find the mother-to-be, Najat Tagouri, bleeding to death in her bedroom.  To make matters worse, her husband is lying on the floor, also dying.  Within a matter of minutes, Amani's life takes a terrible turn when the police find what appears to be the murder weapon in her hand.  Charged with three counts of homicide (including the fetus), her future looks very bleak. No one who knows the doula accepts her guilt.  This includes Nahibab Sadiq, who operates a posh shelter for women out of her Richmond mansion.  Several of her guests (and one employee) have Amani as their doula.  At their urging, Nahibab hires Ari Ciminon (the 56th Man) to prove Amani's innocence. Ari immediately becomes entangled with lawyers, social workers, bail bondsmen, an Arabic voice performer who mimics Mel Blanc, a novice PI, a grouchy imam, Latino and Hispanic immigrant laborers and Lubna Obaid—a death doula. But Ari is on the clock.  His injured wife Rana is due to arrive at Portsmouth Naval Hospital within days, if not hours.  Riven by guilt because of a sexual indiscretion, he is desperate to make amends.  His long-anticipated reconciliation is threatened when he is caught up in a turf war between a cantina owner and a powerful drug cartel.  Yet there is more at stake.  A dark cloud hovers over Ari's future.  Even his cat suspects the reunion with Rana might cost Ari his life.

Recovering from a seizure, Ari Ciminon (The 56th Man) is enlisted by the Richmond Police Department while still in his hospital bed. In less than two months, four Arabs have been murdered in Greater Richmond. There are no clues, no motives and no apparent connections between the victims. When the families seem reluctant to help find the killer, Detective Yvonne Neumann hires Ari as a special 'cultural consultant'. It does not take him long to suspect one of the victims was not who he seemed to be; and that he might not be dead. There are plenty of roadblocks, cover-ups, ambushes, red herrings, killers and dolts to deal with, culminating in an assembly of assault teams outside a huge warehouse on Richmond's Southside. Leading the way is Ari, who has come to the conclusion that they are dealing with a gang of human-organ traffickers. However, the complete answer turns out to be far more peculiar. Human bodies, yes. But what's up with those pufferfishes…?