China Riddle

This is the story of a university professor who has been enlisted by the FBI as an undercover agent to ferret out a leak of confidential technical information from a major American pharmaceutical firm that is ending up in a company in China. The agent and his wife, a retired FBI agent, slip into the social life of the suspect, a company employee, to determine how he transmits the information to China. Their mission includes riveting encounters with China's Ministry of State Security, the CIA, and U.S. Navy Seals; twists and blind alleys; armed kidnappers; and sadistic goons.

The FBI enlists a university professor and veteran undercover agent to investigate a challenging case that has stumped them for over a year. Highly confidential technical information is being stolen from a major American pharmaceutical company and ending up in a company in Shanghai, China. The agent and his wife, a retired FBI agent, are to slip into the private life of the prime suspect, a company employee, in hopes of discovering how he gets the stolen information to China. A gang-style assassination draws attention away from the suspect. Facing a dead end, the agent travels to China to interview an informant in the Chinese company for clues that may lead to the source of the data. He faces riveting encounters involving China's Ministry of State Security, the CIA, an U.S. Navy Seals. Back home, the scrap of information the agent was able to gain from the informant points to another suspect, the discovery of clandestine listening devices and illicit drug manufacturing, and another blind alley. An encounter with an armed kidnapper and a sadistic goon provides evidence for a successful conclusion.

David Carlberg is a hundred-percent Southern Californian. He was born in Los Angeles; schooled (K-PhD.) in Los Angeles and Avalon, Santa Catalina Island; and now lives in Santa Barbara, California. A retired microbiologist, David has held positions in both the private sector and academia. He has worked as a chemist and an executive for a major pharmaceutical company; a research scientist in the aerospace industry working in astrobiology and biological warfare detection; a consultant in the medical device, pharmaceutical, television and motion picture industries; acted in two motion pictures; and was a professor of microbiology at California State University, Long Beach where he taught courses in microbial genetics, food microbiology and scientific instrumentation. He has two sons, Howard and Marvin. David is the author of four books on microbial genetics and environmental and industrial microbiology, three novels, a screenplay, and a collection of short stories. Besides writing, David spends his time painting, making jewelry, cooking, and volunteering in library and art activities at his retirement community.