Dark Ride Deception

Is Tom Wyrick Dead? The computer genius is missing. So are his priceless tech secrets.

Time for Lyle to go undercover, again.

Tom Wryick's mind-bending technology will rocket Arizona's Nostalgia City theme park decades ahead of the competition.  But the computer genius is missing.  So are his secrets. Is he dead? On the run?  His billion-dollar, breathtaking discovery is the Perception Deception Effect.

An FBI agent theorizes the People's Republic of China is responsible for the disappearance. The Nostalgia City CEO, however, is convinced a rival theme park is behind the theft. He drafts ex-cop turned theme park cab driver Lyle Deming to fly to Florida to find the missing computer scientist and recover his secrets.

Does this have anything to do with the severed human finger Lyle finds in his cab?

Back in Nostalgia City, park executive, 6'2½" Kate Sorensen, a former college basketball star, is persuaded to investigate the death of an actor starring in a Vietnam-era crime movie being filmed at the Arizona park. Nostalgia City is a meticulous re-creation of a 1970s small town.

Shrugging off jet lag, anxiety, and oppressive Florida humidity, Lyle goes undercover using a parade of false identities—from attorney to maintenance man—to snoop behind the scenes at another theme park's engineering and computer offices. He's forced to jump from one covert scheme to another as his identity is exposed, his safety jeopardized.

In the meantime, Kate confronts a mentally unstable actor—fresh out of rehab. But she may be forced to give up the murder case—Lyle needs help.

Kate and Lyle have little time to explore their nascent relationship as both their investigations turn deadly, threatening them and the future of Nostalgia City.

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"Mark S. Bacon's well-told mystery is clever, smooth, and intriguing, with a reluctant detective who has just the right touch of self-deprecating humor.  The author's wry wit and engaging voice will keep you turning the pages of Dark Ride Deception until the very last satisfying twist."

--Mary Alder, author of the Oliver Wright WWII mystery series

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Recommended:  Death in Nostalgia City, the first book in this series, was recommended for book clubs by the American Library Association.