Roderick Thorp

Die Hard begins on Christmas Eve with New York detective John McClane traveling to Los Angeles to spend Christmas with his wife Holly, who is now living in LA with their two children and going by her maiden name. The party was being held at the fictional Nakatomi Plaza. During the evening, German terrorists break into the building and take the partygoers hostage. McClane escapes detection after having an argument with his wife and leaving to an upstairs bathroom. He manages to hide throughout the building, killing off the terrorists one by one. After a reporter reveals that McClane's wife is one of the hostages by interviewing their children, the terrorists take Holly in order to persuade McClane into giving up. He finally meets the leader Hans Gruber and throws him out of the window.

Detective Joe Leland is called to the home of a murder victim who has been beaten to death and has had his genitals removed. Puzzled and, at the same time, disgusted by the killing, the police on call are left bemused, Leland holding things together with his direct, no-nonsense approach. Few leads and clues are found, other than the fact that a house-mate of the victim remains conspicuous by his absence, all the while notions about the victims sexuality and personal interests soon warp the ideals of the officers assigned to the task. Leyland tries to overlook this and remain focused on the case whilst, at the same time, struggling after the break-down of his marriage to wife Karen Leyland. The trail soon points Leyland towards a local gym where one Felix Tesla, the victims house-mate, who is soon tracked down by Leland and his partner. Held for questioning Tesla gives nothing away until Leyland tries his approach, breaking Tesla down and coaxing a confession out of him, which results in a promotion for Leyland and the electric chair for Tesla. Meanwhile, across town, a man kills himself by jumping from the top of a building at the race-track. The case goes unnoticed until the wife of the dead man, Norma McIver, starts asking questions. The case soon comes to Leyland, who wonders if the man's death is linked to the previous murder, now questioning whether Tesla was the wrong man and the confession gotten out of fear borne out of his sexuality, not guilt. As Leyland delves deeper, he soon finds that there's more to this case than meets the eye, and that both the suicide and murder cases are linked in several ways.

Nothing Lasts Forever is a sequel to Thorp's 1966 novel The Detective. It follows Detective Joe Leland, who is visiting the Klaxon Oil Corporation's headquarters in Los Angeles, where his daughter works. While he is visiting, a German terrorist team led by Anton "Tony" Gruber takes over the building. Leland remains undetected and fights off the terrorists one by one.

Joe Leland, a private detective, begins a case for the recently widowed Norma MacIver. Norma requests that Leland find out everything he can about her deceased husband. Norma requests Leland personally because her husband had mentioned knowing him in the past. It turns out that both Leland and Colin MacIver both served in the same military unit, only at different moments during World War II. Leland interviews Colin's first wife, his mother, and the security guards at the track where Colin supposedly killed himself. Norma introduces Leland to her neighbor, and former therapist, Dr. Wendell Roberts. During their conversation, Wendell makes it known that he knew Leland's wife. It turns out, Wendell was friends with the man with whom Karen Leland had had an affair. As Leland's investigation deepens, he uncovers corruption and murder. Eventually, Leland discovers that Colin was connected to a homicide during Leland's earlier life with the police department as a detective. During the investigation of Teddy Leikman's death, a confession was attained from Felix Tesla, Leikman's roommate. Tesla died by the electric chair. It turned out that Colin MacIver was the true murderer. Joe's partner, Mike Petrakis managed to decypher Colin's coded notes, and reveal a paper trail of corruption.