Ross Thomas: Missionary Stew (USA 2004)

From the Publisher:
Missionary Stew follows political fundraiser Draper Haere on a quest to uncover the secret behind a right-wing coup in an unnamed Central american country. Haere seeks the information in order to get dirt on his boss's opponent in the 1984 US Presidential election. Haere's pursuit of the truth repeatedly puts Haere's life in danger, as the powers-that-be stop at nothing to keep the episode buried. Along the way, Haere carries on an affair with the wife of his candidate and enlists the aid of Morgan Citron, an almost-Pullitzer winning journalist who has recently been released from an African prison where the prisoners where fed human flesh--the titular missionary stew. Together Citron and Haere face up against cocaine traffickers, Latin American generals, corrupt US officials, and Citron's estranged, tabloid-publisher mother.

Ross Thomas: Missionary Stew. Introduction by Roger L. Simon. St. Martin's Press, ISBN: 0312327064 (March, 2004), 290 p., $14.95.

Ross Thomas: Missionary Stew (USA 1985)

From the Publisher:
Morgan Citron is a world-weary journalist living out the dark side of the California dream, sleeping in a '69 Toyota, eating off black market food stamps. He's hired by a political kingmaker to investigate a cocaine war and right-wing coup in a death-squad-ridden banana republic. These shenanigans, involving the FBL, the CIA, and millions of dollars in U.S. government payoff money, could make Watergate look like a minor peccadillo; the repercussions could blow the incumbent right out of the White House, opening the way for aspirant Baldwin Veatch (rhymes with "wretch").

In the tradition of Richard Condon's disorienting political thrillers, this is hip and fast-paced satire, mixed with sophisticated wit and a provocative undertone of seriousness.

Ross Thomas: Missionary Stew. Penguin Books, ISBN: 0140074139 (Januar, 1985), 300 p., $4.95.