Invisible Prey (Lucas Davenport Series #17) » (Reprint)

John Sandford began his career as a journalist using his real name, John Camp. He won a Pulitzer for feature writing before turning to mystery-suspense novels, simultaneously releasing two first novels under two different names in 1989.

A wealthy woman and her maid are murdered. Robbery would seem the likely scenario, except that none of the clues are coming together for Lucas Davenport. At least not those he can see.

Publishers Weekly

At the start of this engaging first in a new series from bestseller Cussler (Inca Gold) and Blackwood (An Echo of War), Sam Fargo and his wife, Remi, trade quips while wading waist deep in a Maryland swamp in search of hidden treasure. The couple stumble across a WWII Nazi minisub, which contains an intact bottle of wine, apparently part of a collection known as Napoleon's Lost Cellar. The bottle has a riddle hidden in its label, the solution to which leads the Fargos to other lost bottles and eventually points the way to two solid gold Persian columns discovered by Napoleon and hidden in the Pennine Alps in 1800. The book's villain, Hadeon Bondaruk, who covets the columns and will do anything to get them, sends his henchmen after the Fargos. The clever duo manage to stay one small step ahead of the hired killers until everyone arrives at the inevitable boffo ending. Solidly in the Cussler tradition, this adventure thriller is sure to please new fans and old. (Sept.)