When you say paradise, I think snakes. Maybe that’s because I live in the slice of paradise known as southern California’s Gold Coast. And maybe it’s because I spend my time killing other people’s reptiles.

So I wasn’t too surprised when my ex-wife and sometime lover, Fiora Flynn, came to me because Danny, her beloved dunce of a twin brother, was in trouble.

What did surprise me was the kind of trouble he was in. The killing kind. Complete with the FBI and international spooks.

I didn’t think Danny boy had it in him.

The good news is that unraveling Danny’s snarl brought Fiora back to me. The bad news….

Well, there’s always bad news, isn’t there?

Originally published 1985 in hardcover, 1986 and February 1993 in paperback and March 2009 in trade paperback.