Banacek

When a football player vanishes from the field in full view of network cameras and a live audience, it's up to Banacek to figure out how his kidnappers spirited him away without a trace.

The multi-million dollar Phoenix, prototype for a revolutionary new car, disappears from a non-stop train en route to Boston - flat-car included. Banacek is called in to find the missing vehicle before a huge insurance claim must be paid.

A golden cross, on its way from a Mexican church to an American gangster anxious to reform his image, turns into worthless junk without ever leaving the possession of the couriers sent to deliver it. Banacek must figure out where and how the switch was pulled off.

Banacek must figure out who stole a million dollars from a supposedly tamper-proof display case.

A king's ransom in precious coins vanishes from a hotel-suite vault while the owners sleep only a few feet away. Banacek arrives to figure out how the impossible to open vault was so easily breached without a sign left behind.

When a priceless book vanishes from a sealed display case in a room that no thief could possibly escape, it's up to Banacek to show how someone beat the supposedly foolproof alarms to make off with the artifact.

"Man in Harmony," a 3-ton, 11-foot tall sculpture is missing at its gala unveiling. The 5-foot pedestal to which it was attached is all that remains to mark the theft. A ransom demand threatening to turn the large stone into gravel unless $500,000 is paid further complicates the case. Working, and competing, with a Boston Insurance Company colleague, Banacek has only two days to find the statue and collect his fee.

One morning Max - a huge, complex computer system - is missing from the locked, alarmed and guarded building he filled just the night before. Banacek steps in to find out how tons of computer machinery could be sneaked out leaving only bare walls.

A three-million dollar wedding coach, being sent overseas, disappears shortly after being placed into a shipping container and loaded aboard ship, under the watchful eyes of two Boston Insurance Company employees. Enter Banacek, who must figure out the puzzling theft and find the coach before the ship sails to collect his ten percent.

A one-of-a-kind Greek chalice worth 1.5 million dollars is stolen in front of many witnesses.

Thoroughbred-owner Katherine Wells finished an interview at the track, then in confidence tells her horse trainer that she is quitting racing and sold her prized thoroughbred for $5,000,000. That after morning workout, the transfer would be official. Before new owner and camera crew, Oxford Dunn starts his quarter run.. yet a different horse finishes - with no time to switch in the "Horse of a Slightly Different Color." It's another impossible puzzle for Banacek.

A small but powerful prototype engine sits sealed in a rotating display case in the middle of a crowded trade-show floor. A power failure turns out the lights for a few seconds, and when the lights return, the rocket engine has vanished. Banacek must beat his competition to the solution before Federal agents step in.