Protocol for a Kidnapping by Ross Thomas

When his old boss is kidnapped, St. Ives reluctantly agrees to free him

Philip St. Ives loses his first job in journalism as soon as he realizes he hates the man who gave it to him. Chicago Posteditor Amfred Killingsworth is a pompous blowhard, and fires his newest reporter for failing to fawn over him. St. Ives goes to New York, where he lands a daily column and the close friendship of an assortment of crooks. Killingsworth goes in a less respectable direction, becoming the US ambassador to Yugoslavia. By the time the ambassador gets himself kidnapped, the only man who can save him is his former cub reporter.

The kidnappers demand the release of a Slavic poet in exchange for the ambassador, and St. Ives goes behind the Iron Curtain to arrange the hand-off. To protect a trove of ugly Washington secrets, he’ll have to save the life of a universally disliked man.

“Ross Thomas is without peer in American suspense.” —Los Angeles Times  

“What Elmore Leonard does for crime in the streets, Ross Thomas does for crime in the suites.” —The Village Voice  

“Ross Thomas is that rare phenomenon, a writer of suspense whose novels can be read with pleasure more than once.” —Eric Ambler