Dead is a Four Letter Word

When sultry Claudia Vale recruits Detective Mitch Victor to protect her after having received death threats, Mitch discovers the job entails much more than he bargained for, including finding a confidential map. In no time, he's plunged into a gritty underworld where the morally bankrupt operate by their own code driven by insatiable greed, a thirst for power, and the ability to control the red planet's resources and determine who survives.

Mitch thinks it's easy money until multiple factions start viciously competing for the map's mining location - to exploit resources or hold society hostage.

With lives hanging in the balance, Mitch must find the map and prevent corporate elites and religious fanatics from using ANUBIS, the galaxy's most dangerous AI computer virus, from holding Mars' water supply hostage. Even his quick wits and street smarts may not be enough as lethal stakes stack against his survival. Along the way, Mitch faces the hardest truth - is he willing to risk the one person he swore to protect most in order to save millions?

For fans of classic pulp hardboiled noir detective and sci-fi stories, DEAD is a Four Letter Word mixes sci-fi thrills on the gritty Mars frontier with the two-fisted action and femme fatales of the likes of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett.