Wait Until The Dark Of Night

Book Two of Arthur A. Lee's Mystery and Adventure Series.  "Wait Until The Dark Of Night" is a spin-off from Lee's popular "Morgan Crew Murder Mystery Series."  Joseph Cross, who helped Morgan Crew in "A Deadly London Fog," is an American ex-patriot who owns a luxurious casino in London.  He is high up in the criminal world of the UK, running smuggling operations and dealing in illegal diamonds.


His worst enemy, a Member of Parliament, asks for his help to rescue her son, who was kidnapped by an African warlord while doing mission work in Uganda.  Cross sees this as an opportunity to get her and the police off his back and agrees to help.  He makes use of his criminal contacts in Switzerland, Amsterdam, and Tenerife and hires a French mercenary group to back up his plans.  He risks imprisonment and death again and again, never knowing whether he or the young man will ever get out alive. Add to that the peril of beautiful, exotic Mary Ssanyu, number one wife of the warlord, Simba Azubuike; and sensuous, audacious Helen d’Neuville, head of the French militia group.


And, despite his criminal reputation, Cross maintains he is willing to put his life at risk because 'It is the right thing to do.'  The character is what Lee likes to describe as the 'good bad guy.'