Mr. Kill (Sergeants Sueno & Bascom Mysteries)

Description

In this eighth installment in Martin Limón’s critically acclaimed series set in South Korea around the US 8th Army base, Lieutenants George Sueño and Ernie Bascom embark on what may just be the most dangerous case of their careers.
 
On a crowded train from Pusan to Seoul, the brutal rape of a young mother sparks rage on the powder-keg peninsula of Korea, pitting Koreans against Americans and the 8th Army brass against the truth. Eyewitness accounts indicate the culprit was most likely a US serviceman, but by the time Sergeants George Sueño and Ernie Bascom, US Army investigators, are called in, the rapist has disappeared and anti-American fervor in this proud Asian country is threatening to explode. George and Ernie set off a frantic search for a killer that introduces them to a ruthless Korean homicide investigator known to anyone foolish enough to cross him as Mr. Kill.

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Mr. Kill: A Sergeants Sueño & Bascom Mystery (Sergeants Sueno & Bascom)

Description

On a crowded train from Pusan to Seoul, the brutal rape of a young mother sparks rage on the powder-keg peninsula of Korea, pitting Koreans against Americans and the 8th Army brass against the truth.  Eyewitness accounts indicate the culprit was most likely a U.S. serviceman, but by the time Sergeants George Sueno and Ernie Bascom, U.S. Army investigators, are called in, the rapist has disappeared and anti-American fervor in this proud Asian country is threatening to explode.
 
George and Ernie search in vain for the culprit, all the while becoming entangled in the web of military apologists who deny that any Americans were involved, and the designs of a beautiful blonde musician who fronts an all-female country western band--a woman who is out to entertain the troops in more ways than one.
 
Delay causes more tragedy--and this time murder--and sets off a frantic search for a killer that stretches from the sizzling hot Demilitarized Zone to the cold waters of the Yellow Sea and introduces George Sueno and Ernie Bascom to a ruthless Korean homicide investigator known to anyone foolish enough to cross him as Mr. Kill.

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The Joy Brigade

Description

In this pulse-racing ninth adventure, Sergeant George Sueño heads north of Korea's DMZ on a mission to prevent war between the Communist North and the American-allied South.
 
Seoul, early 1970s: US Army Sergeant George Sueño is on a mission of extreme importance to the South Korean government, as well as the US Army. Kim Il-Sung has vowed to reunite North and South Korea into one country before he hands control of the government over to his son, which means North Korea is planning to cross the DMZ and overpower the American-allied South Korean government. Sueño's mission is to prevent this by sneaking into North Korea and obtaining an ancient map detailing the network of secret tunnels that run underneath the DMZ. To do so, he will have to go undercover and infiltrate the North Korean Communist inner sanctum.
 
Aware of the often dubious nature of the US Military's tactics, Sueño is skeptical about his assignment. But he has other things on his mind. The keeper of the map is Doc Yong, a former lover of Sueño's who was forced to flee South Korea the year before—and she has a son. Before they can be happily reunited, the plan falls to pieces, and Sueño is captured. Can he rely on the enigmatic Hero Kang, his sole contact in the hostile country? Will the lovely Rhee Mi-Sook, the leader of the North Korean secret police, be too much to handle? And who are the mysterious group of women known as the Joy Brigade?

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Jade Lady Burning

Description

Almost twenty years after the end of the Korean War, the U.S. Military is still present throughout South Korea, and tensions run high. Koreans look for any opportunity to hate the soldiers who drink at their bars and carouse with their women.  When Pak Ok-Suk, a young Korean woman, is found brutally murdered in a torched apartment in the Itaewon red-light district of Seoul, it looks like it might be the work of her American soldier boyfriend.  Sergeants George Sueño and Ernie Bascom, Military Police for the U.S. 8th Army, are assigned to the case, but they have nothing to go on other than a tenuous connection to an infamous prostitute.  As repressed resentments erupt around them, the pair sets out on an increasingly dangerous quest to find evidence that will absolve their countryman.

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G.I. Bones (Sueno & Bascom Mysteries, Book 5)

Description

Praise for the Sueño and Bascom series:

“Setting the standard for military crime fiction, Limón’s compelling stories of murder, greed, and abuse of power are set off by the Korean culture and 1970s atmosphere.”—Library Journal, starred review

“Altogether engaging.”—The Washington Post Book World

“Combining the grim routine of a modern police procedural with the cliff-hanging action of a thriller movie.”—The Wall Street Journal

“It’s great to have these two mavericks back.”—The New York Times Book Review

“Easily the best military mysteries in print today.”—Lee Child

“Martin Limón does what the best storytellers do: take you away to a brand new world.”—Michael Connelly

A Korean fortune-teller is being bothered by a dead American soldier who wants his bones found and buried. An underage officer’s daughter is missing together with a Latino soldier. Several of the leading Korean gangsters who own the bars in the ville have been killed. Sueño and Bascom of Military Intelligence must go back to the founding of Itaewon, Seoul’s red-light district, in order to learn who killed the soldier, who’s taking revenge on the gang lords, and where to find the missing girl.

Martin Limón is the author of numerous stories about his army police duo as well as five previous novels, Jade Lady Burning (a New York Times Notable Book of the Year), Slicky Boys, Buddha’s Money, The Door to Bitterness, and The Wandering Ghost, all available from Soho Crime. He lives near Seattle.

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Door to Bitterness

Description

“Limón’s crisp, clear storytelling opens a door to another world and leaves one hoping the next installment won’t be so long in arriving.”—The Baltimore Sun
 
“As good as Limón’s series debut, Jade Lady Burning.”—The Plain Dealer
 
“Plot, pacing, and plausibility are just about perfect. . . . Limón has a humane outlook that nourishes the spirit.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer (Editor’s Choice)
 
The two GI cops Martin Limón first introduced in Jade Lady Burning are back with a vengeance in their latest adventures in 1970s Seoul and the sin cities surrounding the capital. While North Korea menaces and Vietnam burns, these two weave through back alleys and bordellos, trying to tip the scales of justice back in the right direction.
 
This time they are not only pursuing criminals—they’re chasing themselves. Homicidal thieves have gotten hold of Sueño’s badge and are using it to trick their victims just long enough to strike—with his gun. The army wants his equipment accounted for, the ID and weapon recovered. George and Ernie want to recover their reputation, such as it is . . . and stop the killings.
 

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