Showing results by author "Russell Atkinson" in All Categories

The President of Claritiva Software is kidnapped at gunpoint. FBI Special Agent Cliff Knowles is the first to respond when the crime is reported. But the report is suspicious in many ways and the front office is skeptical that the kidnapping is real. Knowles must fight his own bureaucracy while trying to rescue the victim and catch the kidnappers. This gripping novel will have you on the edge of your chair from the first chapter. The author, a retired 25-year FBI veteran Special Agent, draws heavily on his experiences working high-technology and violent crimes cases in Silicon Valley to ...

X-rays can kill cancer cells and save lives when administered properly. They can also kill people when things go wrong – a fact learned the hard way by retired FBI agent Cliff Knowles. Hired to unravel the cause of some mysterious overdoses, he gets too close to the truth and finds his own life on the line. Inspired by actual cases he worked as an FBI agent in Silicon Valley, the author weaves an absorbing tale of greed, technology, and terrorism in this high-tech legal thriller. After reading Fatal Dose you’ll never look at an X-ray machine the same way. Fatal Dose follows geocaching ...

Newly retired from the FBI and alone after the tragic death of his wife, Cliff Knowles takes up geocaching. While looking for a cache in the mountains, he comes across a human skeleton and reports it to the sheriff's office. Then a second body is found - a fresh corpse this time - right after Cliff found another geocache nearby. When it turns out the first remains are those of a fugitive he was supposed to arrest years earlier, he becomes a suspect in a multiple homicide investigation.

Mags, recently widowed, has retired to tiny Buck's Gap off the Big Sur coast, content to work her crosswords and discuss mysteries with her book club. Then she discovers the body of a murder victim, a professional puzzle-maker, and is drawn into the investigation. Soon a glamorous FBI agent arrives in town trying to find some stolen diamonds from a long-ago heist that she thinks may be connected. Mags is happy to help the police chief, but she may have bitten off more than she can chew. Fortunately, she has the Buck's Gap Women's Auxiliary by her side. There are several puzzles in the book ...

When Cliff Knowles was in the FBI, he was an agent's agent, a relentless pursuer of criminals. After he retired and became a private investigator, he swore he'd never help a defense attorney free a murder suspect, certainly not one who shot an FBI agent point blank in front of witnesses while yelling obscenities. But then he never expected that an FBI agent he worked with would be the defendant. For the first time, Cliff tells the story in his own words. Cliff must face the scorn of his former colleagues for turning to the "dark side" of criminal defense while trying to keep his wife from ...

When a court ruling once again halts the carrying out of the death sentences of hundreds of condemned murderers, a frustrated vigilante organization decides to take matters into its own hands. In a mysterious and grisly act of horror, San Quentin's entire population of condemned prisoners is executed in the dark of night. But how? And who are these vigilantes? Answering those questions falls to retired FBI agent Cliff Knowles, now a successful lawyer. His lover, Special Agent Ellen Kennedy, is intent on completing a geocaching challenge known as the Fizzy Challenge, but inadvertently turns ...

The last thing he remembers are the words "Brace for impact!" Retired FBI agents are sometimes subpoenaed to testify on old cases. That's what brings Cliff to Las Vegas. The light plane taking him back to California never reaches its destination. This is the harrowing tale of survival - or death - Cliff faces. All he has to sustain him are a few clothes and his geocaching gear. Not everyone involved in the case wants to see him survive.

Cliff is intrigued by a geocache description about a murder site in posh Los Altos Hills dating back eighteen years. When the victim's granddaughter approaches Cliff and Maeva to find the killer, they accept. Soon they are drawn into the esoteric world of DNA and genealogy to try to track down "Cole Case," the killer. Chasing a murderer can be a dangerous business and this time is no exception, but Cliff can always find time to pick up a geocache or two.

San Diego is renowned for its sunny weather and beautiful beaches, but it has its dark side. It is the location of one of the largest mass suicides in American history. Thirty-eight members of the Heaven's Gate cult left their bodily "vehicles" hoping for their souls to be taken aboard an alien space ship traveling behind the Hale-Bopp comet. Now, decades later, it looks like an offshoot cult is following the same pattern. One of the victims is the sister of private eye Cliff Knowles, a sister he hasn't seen in years. He has trouble accepting the conclusion of the police that it's a suicide...

Ten geocachers are invited to an exclusive all-expense paid adventure on a private island owned by the controversial new owner of the geocaching company. What could possibly go wrong? As it happens, plenty. Geocaches that are death traps. A raging storm. A friendly competition that turns not so friendly. A body. A murder? Some adventures can be too thrilling, as Cliff Knowles learns once again.

Cliff and his partner Maeva are hired to investigate the theft of some gold coins in California's Gold Country. What they find astounds them. When the case turns into a murder investigation, things take a dangerous turn, but not too dangerous to keep Cliff from geocaching.

Hardkorps is a video blogger, memorializing his three-year quest for the Ultimato Challenge geocache on his vlog. Success means big money and big fame. But not all is as it seems. A shocking surprise leads to a death and an FBI investigation. When Cliff Knowles comes to believe his wife Ellen, the FBI agent on the case, is helping to prosecute the wrong man, he steps in. Cliff and Ellen find themselves working on opposite sides of the case. Only their mutual knowledge of geocaching can lead to discovering the truth.