A Prize for All Saints

John Maletesta hit .437 in his senior year, pulling down fly balls like DiMaggio. That was before his left arm was hacked off in World War II. The embittered vet is now riding shotgun for an ambitious expedition of anthropologists navigating upriver through the Borneo jungle toward mountain caves. They are obsessed with finding “Borneo Man,” the fossils of the earliest species of homo sapiens. Their prize will turn the scientific world of evolution upside down and win them international acclaim. But an unknown party is determined to destroy the expedition. The tramp steamer carrying the expedition to Borneo is attacked by Malay pirates in the Celebes Sea. Assassins stalk the scientists through the dark alleys of the port town of Sibu. Haunted by his war demons, Maletesta wields a deadly Browning Hi Power to blow away thugs, skillfully manipulating the pistol with his right hand and the stump of his left arm. Another violent clash erupts on the river. An injured man is rescued by a captivating American woman who emerges from the jungle with head hunters. A charmed little Dayak girl rushes to tend his wounds. A mysterious pouch with precious jewels dangles from her neck. As he recovers, Maletesta begins to resurrect the dangerous journey to the caves, but finds himself entangled in a whirlwind affair with a famous American woman. Maletesta discovers more than the expedition promised, but reaches for his greatest prize. Sister Carol Ann O’Marie, author of the popular Sister Mary Helen mysteries, called A Prize for All Saints, “a real page turner, with some exciting answers to historical mysteries, like the disappearance of Peking Man . . . I couldn’t put it down.” (A portion of the proceeds from the sales of A Prize for all Saints will be donated to organizations serving veterans with PTSD, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.)