When you find yourself trying to remember a show (or any works) that's on the tip of your tongue but just out of reach, come here - the collective brain of the TVTropes community can probably help. Post all the details you can remember (examples help). If you're looking for a trope, head over to Trope Finder. Have general questions about tropes? Visit Ask The Tropers!
FuzzyBoots
Since: Jan, 2001
2012-10-01 19:09:20
Ah hah! Dad knew right off. The Road to Gandolfo by Robert Ludlum. Followed by The Road to Omaha which involved Hawk trying to swindle the US out of the Strategic Air Command Base by invoking a forgotten Indian treaty for the land.

So, I was reading through the entry on The Pope and wanted to add a particular example, but I'm suddenly blanking on its details including the name of the series and the author. It was a series of at least two books with a title similar to "The Acapulco Affair" with a place name in he center and the last word relating somehow to a plot or plan. Anyhow, in one of the books, the main characters (not certain if they were good guys or bad guys) hatch a Crazy Enough to Work plot that includes kidnapping the pope and replacing him with a kneebreaker of their acquaintance who happens to resemble the pope. The thug in question was Italian, so I'm pretty sure the Pope was too (which might place this as occurring prior to Pope John Paul II). For whatever reason, they never quite get around to swapping back (I want to say it was a case of the Pope deciding that he liked his new lifestyle better), but the replacement winds up revolutionizing church policy through his hard-nosed diplomacy involving agreeing not to break the knees of the people who agree with him.
I remember grabbing the book somewhere in high school from the shelf containing my father's books, so it was published as a paperback before 1998 and likely a good bit earlier. I remember recognizing the name of the author as someone fairly famous, but I don't remember exactly who. I'll likely check in with my Dad tonight to see if it sparks any memories, but I figured I'd ask here too.