Mortal Instruments

Johnny Barber, a globe-trotting businessman with a love for the finer things in life, is somewhat unhappy to find himself embroiled in a government investigation when he returns home from a trip to South America to find two Department of Trade and Industry officials on his doorstep. When a machine that can detect a potentially fatal coffee fungus was stolen from its developer, Johnny was contacted off the record by an acquiantance at the DTI to try and locate its whereabouts. It seemed like an easy commission - that is until his acquiantance and an associate are found dead in suspicious circumstances. Everyone seems happy to believe the official version of events except Johnny, who's sure there's more to this than meets the eye. It's all rather puzzling, however. Who would want a machine that, on the face of things, is absolutely worthless? Mixing business with pleasure, Johnny contacts an old flame, Katie Gonzalez, and appeals for information. As the mistress of Carlos Guimares, a hugely influential player in the South American coffee trade, she's perfectly placed to offer help - and some rather more intimate favors - to her friend. But then Katie goes missing. There's big money in the coffee industry and lives don't cost very much. It's a painful discovery in more ways than one for Johnny Barber who finds himself at the centre of a community where people play by different rules and nothing is quite as it seems.