The Kincade Street Kidnappings

About the Book

AFTER A REVOLUTIONARY ANIMAL RIGHTS BILL IS PASSED IN OREGON IN OCTOBER 2004, LOS ANGELES, A YOUNG, AMBITIOUS, BLACK CAT LIVING ON FORTRESS STREET, DECIDES TO OPEN A PRIVATE DETECTIVE’S AGENCY AND BECOME A PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR. A FEW DAYS LATER, HE FINDS THE ANIMALS THAT HE WANTS TO BECOME HIS ASSOCIATES. THE “SUPER SIX” DETECTIVES INCLUDE: GREER, HIS BLACK AND WHITE PERSIAN COUSIN; HALIFAX, A STRONG, RELIABLE, YOUNG GOLDEN RETRIEVER; ISA, A BLACK PERSIAN AND GREER’S FRIEND; PEANUT, A BRIGHT, SILVER-TABBY AND FRIEND OF HALIFAX’S; SHADOW, LOS ANGELES’S TWIN BROTHER; AND OF COURSE, LOS ANGELES. WITH NO EXPERIENCE IN HIS NEW CAREER FIELD, LOS ANGELES ENLISTS THE AID OF RETIRED DETECTIVE KIRK KINGSLEY FROM THE SALEM POLICE DEPARTMENT. FOR A SMALL FEE, KIRK AGREES TO INSTRUCT THE PROSPECTIVE ANIMAL DETECTIVES IN CRIME SCENE ANALYSIS, INTERVIEWING TECHNIQUES, AND OTHER IMPORTANT CLASSES. AFTER PASSING THEIR COURSEWORK DURING THE ACCELERATED THREE-WEEK SESSIONS, ALL SIX ANIMALS TAKE AND PASS THEY’RE DETECTIVE’S PROFICIENCY EXAMS. SOON, SHADOW BROTHERS & KING DETECTIVE AGENCY BECOMES A REALITY. A FEW MONTHS LATER, THE AGENCY MOVES FROM LOS ANGELES’S BASEMENT TO KINCADE STREET, BENEFITTING FROM LIBERAL GOVERNOR, WILLIAM CHILDRESS’S, FELIONE EXCELLENCE PROJECT. ON KINCADE STREET, THE AGENCY THRIVES FINANCIALLY AND PROFESSIONALLY AND THEY BECOME FRIENDS WITH OTHER ANIMAL OWNERS IN THE VICINITY. HOWEVER, A YEAR AFTER GOVERNOR WILLIAM CHILDRESS SIGNED THE CONTROVERSIAL ANIMAL RIGHTS BILL, KINCADE STREET ANIMAL OWNERS QUICKLY BEGIN DISAPPEARING. IMMEDIATELY, THEY START INVESTIGATING THE CASE AND UTILIZE DETECTIVE KINGSLEY’S KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE. BECAUSE OF THEIR INTELLIGENCE, PERSISTENCE, AND RESOURCEFULNESS, LOS ANGELES AND HIS TEAM SOON DISCOVER THE NAMES OF TWO OF THE KIDNAPPERS IN THE BEAR KIDNAPPING FACTION: ROSCOE WOODBURN AND JANE HOLLOWAY. THEY ARE LATER FOUND DEAD WHICH THREATENS TO CRIPPLE THE INVESTIGATION. WITH ONLY DAYS LEFT BEFORE THEY HAVE TO DELIVER THE TWO MILLION DOLLAR RANSOM TO THE BEAR KIDNAPPING FACTION, LOS ANGELES AND HIS TEAM STUMBLE UPON SOME GOOD FORTUNE. THROUGH THEIR FILES, THEY CONCLUSIVELY LINK JANE HOLLOWAY AND ROSCOE WOODBURN TO A THIRD KIDNAPPER. ALSO, SHADOW DISCOVERS A PATTERN TO THE KINCADE STREET KIDNAPPINGS—LOS ANGELES WILL BE THE NEXT ANIMAL OWNER ABDUCTED. ARMED WITH THIS NEW INFORMATION, LOS ANGELES AND HIS TEAM BELIEVE THAT THE KINCADE STREET KIDNAPPINGS ARE POLITICALLY-MOTIVATED, BRILLIANTLY PLANNED AND EXECUTED TO DESTROY GOVERNOR CHILDRESS’S CHANCES OF RE-ELECTION IN NOVEMBER 2006. ONE LATE OCTOBER EVENING, A BRAVE, YOUNG, BLACKBIRD NAMED OZZIE WOODS ESCAPES FROM THE BEAR KIDNAPPING FACTION’S HIDING PLACE AND FLIES OVER TO LEXINGTON’S PAPER MILL TO GET HELP. QUICKLY, JOE LEXINGTON CONTACTS MR. KINGSLEY AND LOS ANGELES AND TELLS THEM ABOUT OZZIE’S REMARKABLE STORY. SOON, THEY MEET AT LEXINGTON’S PAPER MILL WHERE JOE ALLOWS LOS ANGELES, HIS TEAM, AND AN ELITE SWAT UNIT TO PLAN A RESCUE MISSION IN HIS OFFICE. INSIDE THE OFFICE, OZZIE REVIEWS FILES AND PICTURES THAT LOS ANGELES AND HIS TEAM HAVE BROUGHT WITH THEM. THEY LEARN THE CODE NAMES OF THREE MORE CONSPIRATORS: GREEN MAN, SENTRY, AND ZAHERE. PUTTING THESE CODE NAMES WITH THEIR REAL NAMES, THEY NOW KNOW THE IDENTITIES OF AT LEAST FIVE KIDNAPPERS. UNDERCOVER OF NIGHT, THE ANIMAL DETECTIVES AND THE ELITE SWAT UNIT HEADED BY LIEUTENANT FREEZE DRIVE THROUGH THE SNOWY CONDITIONS AND FIND THEIR TARGET—AN ISOLATED HUNTING CABIN. QUICKLY, THEY ARE DIVIDED INTO THREE TEAMS WITH FOUR MEMBERS EACH AND THEY SURROUND THE CABIN. IN THIS INCREDIBLE RESCUE MISSION, WHO SUCCEEDS AND WHO LOSES. READ THE BOOK AND FIND OUT.

About the Author

John W. Chergi was born on May 18, 1974 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After graduating with honors from South Park High School in 1992, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy and worked as a hospital corpsman, serving at Branch Medical Clinic in Parris Island, SC, Portsmouth Naval Hospital, and as a member of Fleet Surgical Team 2 in Little Creek, Virginia. In 1997, John finished his four-year enlistment and he entered a junior college-CCAC South Campus. In 1999, he graduated with high honors, earning an Associate’s Degree in Psychology. From 1999-2004, John entered Point Park University—a four-year university in downtown Pittsburgh. During his five years at this academic institution, he succeeded academically, earning three degrees: a B.A. in Psychology in 2002, a B.S. in Criminal Justice in 2003, and a M.S. in Criminal Justice Administration in 2004. This is Mr. Chergi’s third detective fiction book penned in 2006: The others include Winston—Golden Retriever Detective and The Kincade Street Kidnappings. His fourth book, Psychic Sapphire, will be finished sometime this summer. When he’s not writing, John enjoys drawing cartoon sketches and finishing Sudokus, feeding blue jays and woodpeckers at his outdoor feeder, watching baseball, football, and hockey games, especially the Pittsburgh Steelers and Pittsburgh Penguins, and watching syndicated episodes of Hawaii Five-O, his favorite all-time crime drama, and Unsolved Mysteries.