About two years ago I wrote a short story, Rudiger, and a blog about it, Mark
Knopfler, Rüdiger and Me (read it here), that
introduced the character of John Rudiger, fugitive financier. I titled the story and created John Rudiger based on emotions evoked by a song called "Rüdiger" by Mark Knopfler (See Knopfler perform it here.) In Rudiger,
John Rudiger is living under an alias in Antigua. He ran off with close to $100 million from
his hedge fund and is now down to his last $2 million. Katie Dolan, a lawyer
with the U.S. Attorney's Office in New York, is sent to Antigua to try to get
enough evidence to extradite Rudiger back to the U.S. to stand trial. Rudiger
recruits her to help him retrieve $50 million of bearer bonds from a safe
deposit box in New York.
Since then I’ve gotten to know Rudiger better, including
writing a novel about Rudiger’s exploits after the Rudiger short story, Spin Move (see below).
I’ve also released two short stories and two novellas that are prequels to the Rudiger short
story. The short stories are Rudiger Comes Alive and Rudiger in the Islands. The novellas are Rudiger in Peril and Rudiger on the Streets.
All five Rudiger stories are available in the collection, Rudiger Stories, or individually. The collection is priced at $3.99 and the individual stories are $0.99 each. I hope you'll give them a try. I had great fun writing them, including enjoying some oddball secondary characters in Rudiger's new home in Antigua.
 |
| Click on Cover to Buy on Amazon |
All five Rudiger stories are available in the collection, Rudiger Stories, or individually. The collection is priced at $3.99 and the individual stories are $0.99 each. I hope you'll give them a try. I had great fun writing them, including enjoying some oddball secondary characters in Rudiger's new home in Antigua.
 |
| Click on cover to buy on Amazon |
In Rudiger Comes Alive,
hotshot Wall Streeter Walter Conklin is a wunderkind hedge fund manager who
runs a $1 billion technology fund. He’s on a roll until his CFO cooks the books
to overstate their results to raise more money. The only way out for Conklin is
to insist his CFO keep cooking them until he can equal those returns. But the
Feds are on to him, so Conklin needs to act fast before they can throw him in
jail—just as the NASDAQ crashes from its historic highs. In the end, Conklin
needs to come to terms with the markets, his smart-mouthed wife, and Charlie
Holden, Assistant U.S. Attorney in New York.
Rudiger Comes Alive
is a 13,000 word short story, chronologically the first of the Rudiger stories.
 |
| Click on cover to buy on Amazon |
In Rudiger in the Islands, Rudiger
adopts Antigua as his new home: he’s building a house and settling in to the
islands way of life. Then Charlie
Holden, Assistant U.S. Attorney in New York, gets a tip and sends one of his
staff lawyers down to get the goods on Rudiger and extradite him to stand
trial. In order to outwit Holden and his
man, Rudiger needs to establish his credentials as an Antiguan national, so he enlists
the help of the double-dealing local police—who will sell their allegiance to
the highest bidder. Rudiger is forced to
think on the fly to adapt to the machinations of both parties as he improvises
to try to stay out of jail.
Rudiger in the Islands is a 20,000 word short story, chronologically the second of the Rudiger stories.
Rudiger in the Islands is a 20,000 word short story, chronologically the second of the Rudiger stories.
 |
| Click on cover to buy on Amazon |
In Rudiger in Peril, Rudiger has settled into Antigua as his new home. He gets a surprising phone call from Charlie
Holden, Assistant U.S. Attorney in New York, who’s been trying to extradite
Rudiger back to the U.S. to stand trial.
Holden tells Rudiger his former partner and CFO has been murdered in the
U.S. by one of Rudiger’s hedge fund investors who lost millions and is out for
revenge. And the investor’s hired killer
is now in Antigua stalking Rudiger.
Rudiger is forced to align himself with Holden as an unlikely ally as he
tries to figure out which of his investors could be after him and help Holden
stop him—before the hitman catches up with Rudiger.
Rudiger in Peril is a 28,000 word novella, chronologically the third of the Rudiger stories.
Rudiger in Peril is a 28,000 word novella, chronologically the third of the Rudiger stories.
 |
| Click on cover to buy on Amazon |
Rudiger on the Streets is a 24,000 word novella, chronologically the fourth of the Rudiger stories.
 |
| Click on cover to buy on Amazon |
In Rudiger, John Rudiger is now a long-term fugitive financier who's been living under his alias in Antigua for 10 years. He's down to his last $2 million.
Katie Dolan, a lawyer with the U.S. Attorney's Office in New York, is sent to
Antigua to try to get enough evidence to extradite Rudiger back to the U.S. to
stand trial. Rudiger recruits her to help him retrieve $50 million of bearer
bonds from a safe deposit box in New York. Katie is no dope, and neither is Rudiger, and
each one has to figure out who's scamming who as they work their plan to sneak
the bonds out from under the nose of Charlie Holden, Katie's boss, the
Assistant U.S. Attorney in New York, who's wise to both of them.
Rudiger is a 10,000 word short story,
chronologically the fifth of the Rudiger stories.
Buy Rudiger:
Buy US Buy UK
It’s a year after Rudiger and Katie’s tryst in New York, and now the Antiguan officials are demanding ever more exorbitant payouts to maintain his cover. He’s running out of money, in part because Katie conned him out of millions. Katie is holed up with her ailing father in Cape Verde, an Island paradise off the coast of Africa that conveniently lacks an extradition treaty with the U.S., an idea she took right out of Rudiger’s playbook. Despite her double cross, Rudiger is still hot for Katie, and he knows just where to find her when he leaves Antigua. But U.S. Attorney Charlie Holden is still hovering in the background, dead set on catching them both. Even worse, Katie’s been sucked in by a crooked Swiss banker and he’s conned her out of Rudiger’s money. Can they get it back and escape before it’s too late?
 |
| Click on cover to buy on Amazon |
It’s a year after Rudiger and Katie’s tryst in New York, and now the Antiguan officials are demanding ever more exorbitant payouts to maintain his cover. He’s running out of money, in part because Katie conned him out of millions. Katie is holed up with her ailing father in Cape Verde, an Island paradise off the coast of Africa that conveniently lacks an extradition treaty with the U.S., an idea she took right out of Rudiger’s playbook. Despite her double cross, Rudiger is still hot for Katie, and he knows just where to find her when he leaves Antigua. But U.S. Attorney Charlie Holden is still hovering in the background, dead set on catching them both. Even worse, Katie’s been sucked in by a crooked Swiss banker and he’s conned her out of Rudiger’s money. Can they get it back and escape before it’s too late?
