Behead Me: A Cliff Knowles Mystery

Retired FBI agent Cliff Knowles thought he was being hired by a Fortune 500 company just to find out why their sales of spare parts were down. He soon learns that where there’s money there’s mayhem - and murder. His investigation brings him to southwestern Utah where he finds that an employee of the company he’s investigating recently lost his head - literally. Coincidence? Not a chance. When Cliff decides to venture into the desert to hunt a geocache, he is unaware that he is being hunted, too. In this harrowing tale of greed and guile, Cliff’s survival depends on his only weapon - his wits.Cliff’s FBI agent wife, Ellen Kennedy, returns to work after her maternity leave ready to pursue criminals of all stripes. Instead she finds that she is assigned to a convicted drug dealer and heroin addict who once attacked Cliff, but to investigate her for an entirely unexpected reason - to help her get a presidential pardon!Once again Cliff and Ellen end up working together pursuing justice and geocaches in their own inimitable style.

Russell Atkinson served as an FBI Special Agent for 25 years, where he specialized in high-technology crimes in Silicon Valley. He was the case agent on the first federal prosecution in California under the Economic Espionage Act. He was the first to investigate Raj Rajaratnam, the high-tech hedge fund manager who was convicted of massive insider trading in 2011. He worked on kidnapping cases and has arrested murderers and drug dealers. After retiring from the FBI he practiced law. With degrees in mathematics and law he worked for many high-tech firms in the computer industry including IBM, Fairchild Semiconductor, and AOL. He served as President of the American Cryptogram Association and has written extensively on cryptographic topics. He was Head Cryptographer for the movie The Red Machine, which was given a thumbs up by Roger Ebert. Now retired, he lives in Silicon Valley and spends time with his interests: running, geocaching, guitar, cryptography, and, of course, writing.