Showing results by author "Pablo Zaragoza" in All Categories

"With each passing page, the twists and turns of the plot keep you hooked. Anyone who loves Buddy cop movies or sleuth stories will find this one entertaining." New York Detectives Matson and Smith, assigned the Chinatown beat, soon find themselves in the midst of mutilations and murders, the nefarious deeds of Ti Chu Cum, leader of a Chinese Mafia-like organization bent on carving out control of NYC Chinatown. With Inspector Han from Hong Kong, whose family had been murdered by the same man, the partners face increasing threats, forcing them to relocate their families out of state. The ...

Who was Pontius Pilate and what gave him the notoriety that has endured for thousands of years? In this historical novel, Pablo Zaragoza explores the total man from birth to death. Pontius Pilate was born into an equestrian family, received military training and academic studies at an early age, and grew to become a loyal soldier, fearlessly going into battle and courageously contributing to the expanse of the Roman Empire. Pilate’s roots ran deep in the Italian countryside, and as he aged, he yearned more and more for home and family, for vineyards and barley fields, and for the laughter...

“Zaragoza leads the reader through a horrific murder plot with both speed and efficiency. A good murder mystery but also a good social issues story.” New York City’s Police Chief, Robert Matson, reflects on his first murder case when, as a newly discharged Korean War veteran, he returns home to Harlem to find a color line blocking his admission to the police academy. Matson takes interim work as a janitor, but his skills in the military police come to light when Bumpy Johnson, Harlem’s unofficial mayor, pimp, and drug czar, seeks Matson’s help tracking down the killer of his ...

A Cuban family patriarch, late in life, narrates Sour Life, historical fiction surrounding his family’s fight to preserve democracy in that Caribbean island nation; their ultimate loss of their beloved homeland and emigration to the United States; his service as a Green Beret in the Vietnam War; and subsequent medical service in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Underlying these efforts is his struggle to thwart drug trafficking and find the CIA killer of his Laotian wife and unborn child. Revisionist history dominates the first section on Cuba and takes the reader around the world as the ...

What happened to Rick Blaine, Ilsa Lund, Louis Renault, and Sam after the plane for Portugal took off, leaving moviegoers with those now famous lines that Rick uttered as he and Louis walk into the fog, “Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”? The authors have pieced together the history of our brave band of players in a world gone mad in the throes of World War II.Brazzaville is the code name of Pierre Renault’s group of French Resistance fighters based in Morocco. They join the foursome on the first of many missions to rescue their friends being detained by...

“Set in 1950s NYC, the hero fights crime amid racial tension and the rise of Nazism. A fascinating story, packed with suspense and plenty of intrigue.” Matson’s forensic boss, O’Neal, a crusty Scotsman, sends Matson to the crime scene in Manhattan, where he learns that three men, all with the same name, are murder victims, suspiciously in a three-block radius of each other. He hooks up with his former partner, Harvey Smith, and the two cops plug into the world of spies, Nazis, and Operation Paperclip. In their investigation into the three murders, all revealing ties with Hitler, the...

In this twelfth century historical tale, Joan, a young girl, rebels at her father’s insistence that she marry a fat, ugly oaf. Joan had come to know a young priest, Andrew, and when the time was right – and with his encouragement – they flee the town and travel backroads to various monasteries. Joan soon learns how to wrap her body to disguise her gender, and her contralto voice helps her further to fit in as a male in monasteries where she and Andrew find refuge. While Andrew pursues the world of numbers and accounting, Joan becomes an avid student, learning to love reading and ...

In Adolf Hitler’s early rise to power, he stirred the souls of impressionable youth in alehouses of Munich and beyond. One such young man, Hans Reinhard Richter, ignored is brother’s warnings about the madman and immersed himself in Hitler’s promise for a greater Germany. “I put on my black shirt and marched.” He joined the Nazi Party and quickly rose in ranks to answer to the likes of Himmler and Göring. As an SS officer himself, Hans was charged with overseeing coal mines, reconfiguring them as gold depositories. He fulfilled his superiors’ orders to steal from banks, museums...

Europe is on the verge of economic collapse following World War II. The communists are at the gate with civil war in Greece and similar movements in Italy, France, and Germany, threatening the West. Our group of patriots once more are called upon to help the Allied cause and stop the collapse by propping up the industrial base and infrastructure of the Western democracies. Richard Blaine and Luis Renault go to Greece to defend democracy and stop Tito’s Yugoslavian forces from overrunning Greece before the American intervention. Rick’s new construction company in Paris, managed by his ...

Albert Delacour has always longed to fly. Growing up on a modest farm in the backwoods of north central Florida, his fascination with the sky first takes root when he witnesses the daring stunts of a 1930s flying circus. That passion deepens when his uncle gifts him the pieces of a one-man plane to build—his first real step toward the freedom of the clouds. But dreams come at a cost. Determined to serve and soar, Albert joins the military, enduring grueling hardship and sacrifice as he rises through the ranks. His journey eventually takes him halfway around the world, where he becomes ...

From an early age in Germany, Kitty Schmidt had lived a life of hardship. Her father had brutally murdered her mother, forcing Kitty to live with her aged grandparents. Her grandfather died and to finance his burial, Kitty had to have sex with the undertaker. This opened the door to her life as a prostitute. It was a journey of poverty, triumph, and evolution; not that of a savvy businesswoman. Her reputation grew. When Kitty attempted to leave Nazi Germany, the Gestapo made a deal with her. Manage a bordello for their hierarchy or go to a concentration camp. They wired her bordello so they...

Lazarus, risen from the dead, faces the dilemma of finding purpose in life until Christ returns. In his quest for peace and solace from the loss of loved ones along the way, he finds great satisfaction in shipbuilding, vineyards, and other enterprises in Cyprus, France, Spain, the New World, New Orleans, Boston, and England. Over his long life, Lazarus marries, has children, watches them grow to adulthood and give him his first grandchildren. They age and die, leaving Lazarus alone, traveling and plying his trades, until he marries again and the story repeats—children, grandchildren, and ...

Imagine witnessing the greatest devastation mankind had – at that time – ever known: America’s atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan. Now imagine, in the midst of such horrific firebombing with unspeakable disintegration and death, a father still mourning the loss of his wife and son under different circumstances, seeing the Shinto deity of fire, Kagutsuchi, laughing as hell spills onto the earth. Imagine once again the father, being tapped by Kagutsuchi’s sister, Suijin, to become transformed and embark on a mission to destroy her brother’s demons and save Japan. In We Walk on Ash, ...

The first wife of Adam wasn’t Eve but Lilith who didn’t want Adam to dominate her. She left him in the garden and ran away. She was condemned to an existence in a cave but was allowed to roam the earth only during a full moon. All the children—the demons—of Lilith escape, save for a small band who believe they must counteract the horrors their mother has spread all over the world. So, their journey begins from the fall of Babel to their eventual encounter with Christ. Our little band travels the world, seeking out their demonic brethren. Our trio’s hope is to put an end to the ...

What makes men different from angels and demons? It is their capacity for redemption. Armageddon: An Apache Story relates the attempt by Bal’am, Prince of Hell, to return to heaven. To succeed, he must dwell in the well of the soul before Archangel Gabriel brings it to the infant. Bal’am possesses young Luis on a spiritual quest in the Apache Medicine Society that has rejected modern life for oneness with nature. Apache and Hopi traditions are woven artfully throughout this novel. Bal’am finally enters Luis and begins his reign of terror and destruction. Luis is incarcerated, and ...

In the grimy Red Light District of La Zona, Mexico, Casanova, a bumbling cantina owner, sets out to transform his border town and change the lives of its residents. Despite warnings from friends, he embarks on his mission in an unorthodox way, luring vulnerable American women to send money in exchange for long distance love. As his bank account grows and life for the town dramatically improves, will his unwitting benefactors discover his scam? What measures will they take to recoup their losses?

Sam Westmore killed several people before committing suicide. That, in and of itself, makes for an interesting read, but Protect the Guilty becomes a compelling story when it portrays Sam as a ghost, reliving and relating the events of his life that led to his acts of violence, hoping against the bitter realities of life to clear himself as a mindless, out-of-control human. From his invisible vantage, Sam first observes the crime scene while learning how to navigate his new form, learning from the inside out what makes people think – and tick. To relate his pre-suicide life, he spends ...

When a neighbor man molests young Zoe, a pseudohermaphrodite and ugly duckling, she gains the means to build her first laboratory to explore microbes, eventually eliminating the predator and realizing her passion for using her tiny “friends” to murder those that persecute, harm, and threaten her.On a trip to Paris, she meets a man connected to the global underworld, and they create a company that provides terrorists the tools to eliminate their enemies. As a urologist affiliated with a prestigious New York hospital, Zoe privately continues to use her micro-friends to exact ...

When a Cuban couple with two sons opens La Bodeguita in Miami, their intent is to capture the charm of a small market that caters to a diverse customer base, offer a wide range of fresh products, and delivers family-style customer service. What they received is another family besides their own. Loyal customers and employees comprise that other family, complete with back stories that few will ever know. On both sides of the counter, they are faceless people. Neither knows what heartache or heartbreak the other might be suffering. The main difference between the two is that the employees must...

In this historical fiction story, three heroic young women – Freddie Oversteegen, her sister Truus Oversteegen, and Hannie Schaft – show that not only young men heeded the call to join the Dutch Resistance but also idealistic young women. Set before Freddie’s death in 2018, she participates in a documentary for Dutch Television. She relates their struggles and temporary triumphs during their activities in the Dutch Resistance, directed mainly by communists. The interview explores how the sisters were recruited and how Hannie, known as “the girl with the red hair,” became part of ...