From Cape Town with Love
Read From Cape Town with Love Online
Authors: Blair Underwood,Tananarive Due,Steven Barnes
Praise for the steamy new novel in the
Essence
bestselling Tennyson Hardwick mystery series
FROM CAPE TOWN WITH LOVE
“Gives readers a further peek into the main character's personality while still preserving his sense of mystery. Tennyson Hardwick is cooler than a glacier, a man's man who can't resist women or responsibility but who has a soft spot that he's not afraid to show. An enigmatic guy like that is hard to resist, so don't even try. . . .
From Cape Town with Love
gives your summer so much more promise.”
âHerald-Standard Online (PA)
“Bold, sexy, and engaging,
From Cape Town with Love
is an amazing novel penned by extremely talented storytellers! Tennyson Hardwick continues to be one of the most superb characters in contemporary literature.”
âZane,
New York Times
bestselling author of
Total Eclipse of the Heart
“I've been a big fan of the Tennyson Hardwick series since
Casanegraâand Ten is back and better than ever.
From Cape Town with Love
has something for everyone: the trademark sex and sizzle, and a nod to James Bond that makes this a high-octane thrill ride. Underwood, Due, and Barnes don't disappoint.”
âEric Jerome Dickey,
New York Times
bestselling author of
Resurrecting Midnight
and
Dying for Revenge
“Heart-stopping and crazy sexy,
From Cape Town with Love
will keep your pulse pounding through the long night. Tennyson Hardwick is a hero for the 21st century.”
âPaul Levine, author of
Illegal
. . . and for the “sizzling”* first novel in the series,
CASANEGRA
“The pace is taut, the dialogue is snappy, and it's hard not to fall for Underwood's fallen hero.”
â
Entertainment Weekly
“Seamlessly entertaining.”
â
Publishers Weekly
“A sizzling mystery that will keep you guessing to the very end.”
â
Essence*
“Hold on, there's bound to be some turbulence.”
â
The Washington Post
“Flavored noir novel generously sprinkled with steamy erotica.”
â
Los Angeles Times
“Easy-flowing narrative style.”
â
Black Issues Book Review
“Gritty. Hollywood mystery that's filled with intrigue.”
â
Ebony
“
Casanegra
is a wild ride through Hollywood, heart-pounding in every way. Smooth, ultra-sexy Tennyson Hardwick is a man readers will want to meet up close. He is all heart and danger, a knight in battered armor. You will love this novel!”
âE. Lynn Harris,
New York Times
bestselling author of
I Say a Little Prayer
“This whodunit, told with a modern urban edge, is an amalgam of styles that carries thick overtones of Raymond Chandler, Walter Mosley, and L.A.
Confidential
. . . . Unexpected plot twists keep the reader turning pages.”
âAssociated Press
“Sizzling hot! Once
Casanegra
was in my hands, I couldn't put it down. From the tangled mystery to the action-packed story to the steamy scenes between the sheets, Casanegra was like a movie I never wanted to end.”
âL. A. Banks, author of the Vampire Huntress Legend series
These titles are also available as ebooks.
Â
OTHER WORKS IN THE TENNYSON HARDWICK SERIES
Casanegra
In the Night of the Heat
ATRIA
BOOKS
A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
www.simonsandschuster.com
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are
products of the authors' imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to
actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2010 by Trabajando, Inc., Tananarive Due and Steven Barnes
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof
in any form whatsoever. For information address Atria Books Subsidiary Rights Department,
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
First Atria Books hardcover edition May 2010
ATRIA
BOOKS
and colophon are trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your
live event. For more information or to book an event contact the
Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 1-866-248-3049
or visit our website at
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.
Manufactured in the United States of America
10Â Â 9Â Â 8Â Â 7Â Â 6Â Â 5Â Â 4Â Â 3Â Â 2Â Â 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Underwood, Blair.
   From Cape Town with love : a Tennyson Hardwick novel / [Blair Underwood with] Tananarive Due and Steven Barnes.â1st Atria Books hardcover ed.
       p. cm.
   At head of title: Blair Underwood presents
   1. African American actorsâFiction. 2. Private investigatorsâFiction. 3. African American menâSouth AfricaâFiction. 4. Cape Town (South Africa)âFiction. 5. Intercountry adoptionâFiction. I. Due, Tananarive, 1966â II. Barnes, Steven, 1952â III. Title. IV. Title: Blair Underwood presents.
   PS3621.N383F76 2010
   813'.6âdc22
2010007764
ISBN 978-1-4391-5912-5
ISBN 978-1-4391-5914-9 (pbk)
ISBN 978-1-4391-6494-5 (ebook)
To
John Due and Patricia Stephens Due
Eva R. Barnes and Emory F. Barnes
and
Col. (Ret.) Frank and Marilyn Underwood,
with gratitude and love
I like big families myself. In fact, my whole life
has been a crusade for larger families.
âAli Karim Bey,
From Russia with Love
You may know the right wines, but you're the one
on your knees. How does it feel, old man?
âDonovan “Red” Grant,
From Russia with Love
Suggested MP3 Soundtrack
“Too Hot to Stop” (The Bar-Kays)
“Sihambile” (Mahlathini)
“Give It to Me Baby” (Rick James)
“Pretty Wings” (Maxwell)
“Unhome” (Miriam Makeba)
“Hate On Me” (Jill Scott)
“For the Love of Money” (The O'Jays)
“Good and Strong” (Sy Smith)
“Sexual Healing” (Marvin Gaye)
“Thula Mtwana” (Ladysmith Black Mambazo)
“Zingu 7” (Zola)
“Party Up (Up in Here)” (DMX)
“War Drums (Original Mix)” (EMC)
“African Woman” (Baaba Maal)
“Oya (Aw-Yuh)” (Babatunde Olatunji)
“Natural Born Killaz” (Dr. Dre, featuring Ice Cube)
“Another Way to Die” (Jack White and Alicia Keys)
“Demon Seed” (Nine Inch Nails)
“Welcome to the Terrordome” (Public Enemy)
“Sympathy for the Devil” (Rolling Stones)
“Red House” (Jimi Hendrix)
“Alive” (Pearl Jam)
“Chileshe” (Hugh Masekela)
“I Just Want to Celebrate” (Rare Earth)
“There's Hope” (India.Arie)
“Lean on Me” (Bill Withers)
“Africa” (Soweto Gospel Choir)
“Agent Double-O-Soul” (Edwin Starr)
FROM CAPE TOWN WITH LOVE
Watch scenes from
From Cape Town with Love
while you read.
Trailer
http://www.simonandschuster.com/multimedia?video=87313458001
THEY CALLED THEMSELVES
the Three R's: R.J., Ramirez, and Reiter. Reiter was female, but not exactly the nurturing kind. I was sitting at a table in a cold, windowless room, in the worst pain in my life. I'd been in the same chair for hours.
Sitting upright wasn't easy because of the pain.
R.J. stood over me with a folder. He did most of the talking.
“The FBI is writing a book on you as we speak,” R.J. said. “Usually that's the bad news. But in your case, that's the good news.”
I couldn't resist. “Then what's the bad news?”
“You seen that TV show . . . ? What's the name?” R.J. asked Ramirez and Reiter.
“What show?” Reiter said.
At first, I thought he was talking about my old series,
Homeland.
I'd played an FBI agent working with the Department of Homeland Security. But I was as wrong as I could be.
R.J. snapped his fingers.
“Without a Trace,”
he said. “It's about people who've disappeared, right? One day they're here, then
bam,
they're gone. That's a fascinating show.”
There was wildness in his eyes.
“You ever heard of the Patriot Act?” R.J. asked me.
I suddenly realized how hungry I was. I wondered again if it was day or night.
“That's got nothing to do with me,” I said. I wanted to force him to say what he was hinting at. “I'm not a terrorist.”
“But you're an
interesting
guy,” R.J. said.
“Fascinating guy,” Ramirez agreed in a singsong voice.
R.J. went on. “And if we decide we want to talk to you for a while, get to know you better, we can keep you around as long as we need to.”
“But nobody wants that,” R.J. said.
“Pain in the ass,” Reiter said.
Cold-steel reality unfolded in my head: I was in an interrogation room in an unknown location. My body felt butchered. I had been promised a long stretch in prison. I had just lost my oldest friend. I had barely survived the night, and a man had died at my hands.
No. Why mince words? I had
killed
a man. For the first time in my life.
I wondered how many people R.J., Ramirez, and Reiter had killed among them, or what measures they were willing to take when they wanted information. I didn't get along with most cops alreadyâbut they weren't cops, or anything like it.