LONDON (Jan. 7) - Police found traces of ricin - a deadly poison twice as potent as cobra venom - in a north London apartment and arrested six men of North African origin in connection with the virulent toxin that has been linked to al-Qaida terrorists and Iraq.

London police said material seized tested positive for traces of the toxin, tiny amounts of which can kill an adult. There is no known antidote…

Wine, Dine, Death Down Under, the exciting first installment of the Lake series, introduces Chester "Chet" Lake as he works his way through this tale of intrigue in Australia where race, revenge, and murder with a terrorist-linked poison form the basis for an old-fashioned whodunit.  

Chet Lake, part Native American and part Afro-Mexican/American, is a citizen of the world. He is no stranger to danger or human nature. As a city planner, he has the perfect background to move through this urban world where his intelligence training and mixed ethnicity are an advantage. Chet uses modern spy technology to unravel the mystery down under, but the heart of the story is the mixing of race, class, and culture. 

Chet is still in the field and on the job in the Middle East, Asia, Latin America, and Australia. You may see him sometime in an international airport near you. You can't miss him...or can you?