The Wager

Robert L. Fish

Jun 2015 · Open Road Media

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A reckless bet in a New York club draws Kek Huuygens into a deadly game

As rain pummels Manhattan, two men play blackjack in one of New York’s most exclusive clubs. After an evening of comfortable low-stakes play, Kek Huuygens makes an outlandish bet: $10,000 on the next hand. He can afford it. The most accomplished smuggler in Europe, Huuygens never makes a bet unless he is sure to win. He is a lucky man, but his luck is about to be tested.
 
In the shadows, Victor Girard—a French gangster who gambles not just with money, but with people’s lives as well—watches him place the bet. Like his opponent, Girard prefers sure things. He knows Huuygens’ reputation, and offers him $50,000 to bring a certain priceless item through United States customs. Huuygens has made a career humiliating border agents, but he will find that Americans are not so easy to fleece—and that this is a wager that he cannot afford to lose.

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Robert L. Fish, the youngest of three children, was born on August 21, 1912, in Cleveland, Ohio. He attended the local schools in Cleveland and went to Case University (now Case Western Reserve), from which he graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering. He married Mamie Kates, also from Cleveland, and together they have two daughters. Fish worked as a civil engineer, traveling and moving throughout the United States. In 1953 he was asked to set up a plastics factory in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He and his family moved to Brazil, where they remained for nine years. He played golf and bridge in the little spare time he had. One rainy weekend in the late 1950s, when the weather prohibited him from playing golf, he sat down and wrote a short story that he submitted to Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. When the story was accepted, Fish continued to write short stories. In 1962 he returned to the United States; he took one year to write full time and then returned to engineering and writing. His first novel, The Fugitive, won an Edgar Award for Best First Mystery. When his health prevented him from pursuing both careers, Fish retired from engineering and spent his time writing. His published works include more than forty books and countless short stories. Mute Witness was made into a movie starring Steve McQueen.
 
Fish died February 23, 1981, at his home in Connecticut. Each year at the annual Mystery Writers of America dinner, a memorial award is presented in his name for the best first short story. This is a fitting tribute, as Fish was always eager to assist young writers with their craft.