Cape Weathers Investigations

4 primary works

Stealing the Dragon

by Tim Maleeny

Published 8 March 2007

In the midst of a cutthroat mayoral election, a ship smuggling Chinese refugees runs aground on Alcatraz. With the entire crew murdered, the crime screams professional assassin. Is it a coincidence that Cape Weather's friend Sally-trained to be a deadly force by a Chinese secret society- has disappeared? The private investigator knows little about Sally's murky history as an orphan in Hong Kong. But she has saved his butt umpteen times, and Cape wants to return the favor. With help from a neurotic cop, a drug lord, and an autistic computer genius, he scours the darkest corners of San Francisco's Chinatown searching for the "snakehead"-the leader of the human smuggling ring-that will lead him to Sally.
From the ancient Triads of Hong Kong to Chinatown's underground, this electrifying thriller penetrates the sinister and fascinating world of organized crime.

Beating the Babushka

by Tim Maleeny

Published 8 October 2007

When a movie producer hurtles to his death from the top of the Golden Gate Bridge, the police call it suicide. One of his studio colleagues turns to private detective Cape Weathers - she believes her producer was murdered, he believes her just enough to let her pay his day rate. Then two Russian gangsters show up on his doorstep and tell him to drop the case, or die. Cape and his partner Sally Mei - a female assassin raised by the Triads - take on the Russian mob, a major movie studio, and a recalcitrant police department. But with a sniper on their trail, the challenge will be staying alive long enough to learn the truth.

Greasing the Pinata

by Tim Maleeny

Published 1 December 2008

Boxing the Octopus

by Tim Maleeny

Published 22 October 2019

Fourth book in the Cape Weather Mystery Series! If you're gonna box an octopus, best bring some extra arms…
At the height of tourist season, an armored car drives off a crowded pier and sinks to the bottom of San Francisco Bay. By the time divers find the wreck, the cash is gone and the driver has vanished. The police are convinced it's an inside job, but local merchant Vera Young, whose boyfriend drove the armored car, claims it was much more than a simple heist.
Vera swears the missing driver is innocent and wants him found before the police can throw him in jail. San Francisco detective Cape Weathers reluctantly takes the case but warns Vera that her boyfriend is likely guilty—or dead. What starts as a manhunt uncovers a criminal conspiracy of money laundering, illegal drug testing, and a network of corporations willing to do anything to protect their stock price. It's a case that Cape, the witty PI, can't get his arms around. And while his relationship with Vera is getting complicated, the list of people who want him dead is getting longer.
Boxing the Octopus is a runaway tour of San Francisco's underworld which reminds us that when things get out of hand, having eight arms is always better than two.
These quick-paced, often humorous San Francisco mysteries are:Perfect for fans of Laura Lippman and Thomas PerryFor readers who enjoy private detective and California based mysteries