David Lowell Rich

"A 3-way race to become the first woman in space" --Container.

Madame X: A woman is blackmailed by her mother-in-law into leaving her politician husband and their baby. Twenty years later, she finds herself on trial for murder where she is defended by her own son. Portrait in black: An adulterous couple conspire to kill the woman's tyrannical husband. Then an anonymous letter arrives advising them that someone knows their secret and their new life together begins unraveling.

Still in Acapulco, due largely in part to Lt. Jacoby's bad sunburn, Gunn is asked by the local police (Lt. Vasquez) to help with the investigation into the near assassination of a U.S. diplomat's son. The emotional problems of the boy, the victims of a car wreck and a debt to a gambler are leads to a possible suspect.