ROOT OF EVILAn Edgar Award Winner for Best First NovelJim McCabe was just another ex-GI trying to scribble a living as a writer in Hollywood until he discovers a chest of century-old gold coins buried in his backyard...and decides to keep it, smuggle the coins to Europe, and sell them for a fortune. But there are plenty of people who want to take his treasure from him and are willing to kill the people he loves to do it in this chilling tale of lust, greed and murder."ROOT OF EVIL has a harsh bite, a credible blend of violence and irony and great narrative vigor." New York Times "A fast-paced, hot-breathing tale...amazingly credible." Bestseller Magazine "Vividly realistic." Sydney Morning Herald "Thrilling, mystifying and suspenseful to the very end." New York Morning Telegraph "A tough thriller that starts on a hot California afternoon and ends in a savage, sadistic grudge fight in a ruined castle on the Rhine." The Observer (London) "Six deaths and a great deal of anguish provide the title as well as a read-it-at-one-sitting chiller." Fort Worth Star-Telegram "A fast-moving tale of intrigue, murder and extortion told in a snappy, hardboiled style."Pulpetti ABOUT THE AUTHOR"James Cross" was the pseudonym of Hugh J. Parry (1916-1997), a career U.S. Information Agency officer who had a PhD in sociology, was fluent in many languages, and wrote novels in multiple genres...as well as book reviews and essays on foreign relations under his own name.