Ross Thomas: Yellow-Dog Contract (USA 2011)

From the Publisher:
An ace campaign operative comes out of retirement to investigate a chilling disappearance
There are few jobs that Harvey Longmire hasn't had. He's been a crime reporter, Louisiana state legislator, foreign correspondent, and-briefly-a decoy for the CIA. But he made his name as campaign trail fixer, an expert in the art of exploiting an enemy's secrets. For nearly a decade, Harvey was the sharpest man in the Beltway, but he quit in 1972, trading political dirty work for a quiet life on a farm.

Now two old friends want him back in the game. A millionaire named Vullo has started a foundation to investigate conspiracies, and Harvey happens to be the expert on the most prominent case: the infamous disappearance of a man named Arch Mix. The trail is not as cold as Harvey thought. Soon he'll either find Mix-or suffer a disappearance of his own.

Ross Thomas: Yellow-Dog Contract. Mysterious Press / Open Road Media, ISBN: 9781453228180 (October, 2011), eBook, 314 Kb (ca. 224 p.), $9.99.

Ross Thomas: Yellow-Dog Contract (UK 1990)

From the Publisher:
When Harvey Longmire is 'persuaded' out of retirement to find out what happened to Arch Mix, it looks like being a family affair. Sister Audrey and Uncle Slick are neck-deep in the sewer of corruption that flows between City Hall and Capitol Hill.

Blood will out...

'Ross Thomas is that rare phenomenon, a writer of suspense novels whose books can be read more than once' ERIC AMBLER
'Particularly strong on dialogue and small-city atmosphere' THE TIMES
'Ross Thomas is, quite simply, a great writer' ROBERT B. PARKER

Ross Thomas: Yellow-Dog Contract. Mysterious Press / Arrow Books, ISBN: 009960910X (March, 1990), 304 p., £3.99.

Ross Thomas: Yellow-Dog Contract (USA 1987)

From the Publisher:
"Ross Thomas is America's answer to Len Deighton and John le Carré, except that Thomas is funnier than either." - Twentieth Century Crime and Mystery Writers
Former political campaign manager Harvey Longmire is enjoying a pleasant semi-retirement with his wife on an 80-acre farm in Virginia when he is visited by two old friends. They are working for a millionaire who has set up a foun dation to investigate conspiracies, and they want to hire Longmire to look into the disappearance of a Jamous union leader. When Longmire accepts the job, he becomes immersed in the wildest adventure of conspiracy and murder in his career.

"Thomas has a realistically gnarled understanding of the Washington scene, and as a bonus the suspense is relentless." - Library Journal

Ross Thomas: Yellow-Dog Contract. Harper & Row / Perennial Library, ISBN: 0060808470 (April, 1987), 228 p., $3.50.

Ross Thomas: Yellow-Dog Contract (UK 1977)

From the Publisher:
Harvey Longmire was once a political campaign manager, but he had long since exchanged that exciting if distinctly murky career for the pleasures of rural self-sufficiency with a wife and assorted menagerie, on an eighty acre farm in Virginia. But then Murfin and Quane arrived out of his past. They had a curious request. Apparently, they were now working for a millionaire who had set up a foundation to investigate conspiracies, and they wanted to hire Longmire to look into the disappearance of a celebrated union leader. Longmire accepted the job, and was to regret the decision. It was not just that one or two people seemed to be eager to eliminate him, but that a great many of his friends and even relations appeared to be involved in a very nasty and very murderous series of crimes.

Ross Thomas's reputation as an expert entertainer in the true Chandler mould continues to rise. Yellow-Dog Contract is exciting, sharp, witty, unputdownable, and entirely Ross Thomas.

Ross Thomas: Yellow-Dog Contract. Hamish Hamilton, SBN: 241 89580 4 (December, 1977), 264 p., £3.95.

Ross Thomas: Yellow-Dog Contract (USA 1976)

From the Publisher:
Former political campaign manager Harvey Longmire is enjoying a pleasant semiretirement with his wife on an 80-acre farm in Virginia when he is visited by two old friends. They are working for a millionaire who has set up a foundation to investigate conspiracies and want to hire Longmire to look into the disappearance of a famous union leader. When Longmire accepts the job, he and the reader are off on the damndest adventure of conspiracy and murder ever, told as only Ross Thomas can tell it, with nonstop action and terrific suspense.

Ross Thomas has been a reporter and an editor and public relations director for numerous publications, radio stations, national organizations, and aspiring political candidates in the United States, Europe, and Africa. He currently lives in Malibu, California. Mr. Thomas is the author of ten novels under his own name, all published by Morrow, and his first, The Cold War Swap, won the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award as "Best First Mystery Novel of 1966." Mr. Thomas's novels have been published in eleven languages.

Ross Thomas: Yellow-Dog Contract. A Novel of Suspense and Conspiracy. William Morrow & Co., ISBN: 0688031048 (December, 1976), 264 p., $8.95.