[Jake Scarne Thrillers 04] • The Viron Conspiracy

A prominent Chicago law firm is asked to investigate the murder of a rich and powerful client. The murder, complete with grisly photos, had become an Internet and YouTube sensation. The killer was obvious -- and now dead. But the victim's widow doesn't buy the official version and wants to punish the people she believes are really guilty. Her only stipulation: New York private investigator Jake Scarne must take the case.

Scarne is reluctant to get involved – and then he finds out who the widow is!

He travels thousands of miles searching for the truth against a backdrop of strange and deadly incidents around the globe. What starts out as the hunt for a killer soon turns into a race against time to stop a vast conspiracy that threatens the health of millions of people.

Cold War echoes, professional assassins, deranged scientists, deadly plagues, perplexed and frightened health officials, Government spies – the Viron Conspiracy has them all!

But at the core of this wide-ranging thriller is one man’s desire to come to terms with a lost love.

* * *

More than 100,000 readers have downloaded Lawrence De Maria’s thrillers and mysteries.

“De Maria’s writing has “a touch of Bourne, a dash of Bond and a sprig of Spenser." (John Crudele, NEW YORK POST)

“While De Maria may have been an award-winning financial reporter, he's an awfully good fiction writer as well.” (NAPLES DAILY NEWS)

"Attention mystery readers: Tired of one-dimensional characters, hare-brained plots, generic settings? Your deliverance is at hand.” (Robert Huber, former chief speechwriter for New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani)

“For those who enjoy dialog of the jocular irony-exaggeration genre, De Maria is a master.” (WASHINGTON INDEPENDENT REVIEW OF BOOKS)

“What is really almost beyond belief is how easily De Maria has transitioned from the dry world of financial reporting to the wild and lavish world of novel writing.” (COLLIER CITIZEN)