When a Kiev video store is torched, the wife of the now-deceased owner—and primary suspect in the arson case—hires private investigator Janos Nagy. As he delves into the woman’s past, Janos discovers things are far more than meets the eye, and as the case is pursued further, a human trafficking plot unfolds from Kiev across the Ukraine. With mixed involvement of Eastern European and Russian mafia, the Ukraine Secret Service, and both orthodox and nonorthodox church rivalries, the race to untangle the threads of the international trafficking ring turns quickly to a matter of life and death.
I began writing fiction during the Cold War while working at Argonne National Laboratory near Chicago as an electronic technician. I took night classes toward a technical degree, but discovered I excelled in courses involving written communication. I received an Atomic Energy Commission scholarship and was able to complete a BS degree from Purdue University in Math, Computer Science, and English, in 1974. While at Purdue University, I won several literary awards in fiction.
After a layoff from Argonne National Laboratory, I took advanced courses in writing and literature and changed my career from technician to technical writer. While employed at Pansophic Systems, Inc., followed by Computer Associates, both computer software companies, I published many short stories in journals and commercial magazines. In 1975, I was the Collins Fellow at the Indiana University Writer's Conference. In 1985, I won a PEN Syndicated Fiction Award. I also taught non-credit creative writing classes at Purdue University Calumet Campus and was a member of the South Side Creative Writers in Chicago
I began writing novels in the 1980s. My Eastern European roots and environmental concerns shape my novels. My experience during the Cold War holding a top-secret security clearance added a mystery/thriller aspect to my fiction. The Canadian publisher PaperJacks published my first novel SUNSTRIKE, a paperback, in 1986, then promptly went out of business. Medallion Press published my environmental novel GRAND TRAVERSE, a hardcover, in 2005. In it I tried to create a realistic portrait of our frightening near future.
After GRAND TRAVERSE, I was asked to do thriller fiction and my following hardcover novels from Medallion Press are:
THE PRESIDENT'S NEMESIS, Political Thriller, 2006
FINAL STROKE, Thriller, 2007
CHERNOBYL MURDERS, A Lazlo Horvath Thriller, 2008
TRAFFYCK, A Lazlo Horvath Thriller, 2009
Although my most recent novels are thrillers, I have tried to maintain literary standards in my writing, especially when it comes to writing about human relationships, politics, and society. A personal tragedy in my life has also changed the direction of my writing. My son committed suicide at age thirty after a long battle with depression and addiction.
I am a Chicago native now living in West Michigan. I'm a member of the Mystery Writers of America, International Thriller Writers, and the International Association of Crime Writers North America.
