Introduction

(A movie producer hurtles to his death from the top of the Golden Gate Bridge, an apparent suicide that shocks the film community and puts a two hundred million dollar production in jeopardy.

His colleague, Grace, doesn't believe it was suicide and turns to private detective Cape Weathers to find the truth. To solve the case, Cape and his friend Sally?an assassin raised by the Triads?take on the Russian mob, a major movie studio, and a recalcitrant police department by enlisting the help of rogue cops, computer hackers, and an investigative journalist who just doesn't give a damn. But with a sniper on their trail, the challenge will be staying alive long enough to find out the truth.

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Excerpt

Beating The Babushka

a novel by Tim Maleeny

Chapter One

Tom Abrahams was flying to his death.

That’s what he told himself as he plummeted through the fog with his arms outstretched, the wind roaring in his ears. He was flying, not falling. He could turn and glide safely back to the bridge at any moment. All he had to do was concentrate.

No problem.

He felt surprisingly calm, his mind clear. The night air was invigorating. A sudden image from his daughter’s video collection flashed across his consciousness.

Peter Pan and Wendy soaring above the London Bridge. They’d watched that scene a thousand times --- what was the secret Peter told the children?

Think of a happy little thought.

Two hundred feet was a long way down. Plenty of time to think of something.

He thought of skydiving in Florida when he was eighteen, the rush of air so intense the only sound was his heart pounding somewhere inside his head, then silence once he reached terminal velocity and everything stabilized. One hundred-twenty miles per hour, the white noise enveloping him like a protective blanket, the world literally at his feet.

A happy little thought?

Tom worried for an instant over the morbid sound of terminal velocity, wondering who invented the term. Realized too late he should have paid more attention in high school physics.

An object falls from the center span of the Golden Gate Bridge, which sits approximately two hundred and twenty feet above San Francisco Bay. Since all objects accelerate at the same rate under gravity, and taking into account air resistance, how long before the object hits the water below?

Tom didn’t know the answer, but he hoped it was a long, long time.

The fog parted for an instant, revealing the black water below. Whitecaps appeared and then vanished from the surface, a distant Morse code warning him to turn back.

Just a happy little thought.

Tom spread his arms wider, arching his back to keep from spinning. The crush of air felt like it was going to break him in half. He spread his fingers, willing them to grow feathers and turn into wings.

Then he remembered the catch. Peter Pan got it wrong --- you needed pixie dust to fly. Until Peter grabbed Tinkerbell and shook pixie dust on the kids, they dropped like stones onto their beds. Without pixie dust they were just another physics experiment, all victims of gravity. Without pixie dust they were fucked.

Like Tom was now.

His eyes watering, Tom squinted to make out a flash of light piercing the fog. He wondered briefly if it was Tinkerbell, come to shake her little fairy butt in his direction, give him a lift.

You can fly, you can fly, you can fly!

A gust of wind flipped him upside down as Tom realized the flashing was the lighthouse at Alcatraz. No Tinkerbell, just a rundown jail holding tourists prisoner.

Head down, Tom strained to see through the fog, thicker now and backlit by the distant beacon. Then everything turned a blinding white, as if he’d fallen into a ball of cotton. He spun again, no longer sure if the water was below or above him. He just knew it was close.

With his eyes shut tight, Tom thought he could hear the sound of waves breaking against the base of the bridge tower. He thought he could smell salt spray through the dampness of the fog. He thought he heard music. Then he thought about his daughter.

Tom had no more happy little thoughts after that.

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Discussion Questions

The two brothers running the movie studio have an intensely dysfunctional relationship that affects everyone around them. How would you handle that type of environment? Does it remind you of anyone you’ve known or worked with?

The bond between Cape and Sally is incredibly strong, each willing to risk their life for the other, yet theirs isn’t a romantic relationship. Is it simply a partnership, or is there more to it than that? Would you like to read about how they first met and began working together in some future book?

A critical break in the case comes from a known criminal, someone involved in the Russian mob. Do you think there really is “honor among thieves”?

Cape often uses humor to deflect deeper emotions or disarm people he is investigating. Was the humor unexpected in a mystery, and how did it enhance or diffuse the tension of a dramatic or violent scene?

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