Louis Morgon

When political intrigue drove Louis Morgon from a successful career at the State Department, he moved to a cottage in France, far from Washington and what he called "the sordid world." He took up painting. He grew vegetables and flowers. He ate long, lovely meals on the terrace overlooking fields of sunflowers. He thought that he had found happiness. Then one day Louis's past lands squarely on his doorstep. It does so in the shape of a dead man. His throat has been slit. He wears a cap with liberte embroidered on it. Except for the local cop, Jean Renard, the police are strangely uninterested. This seems peculiar to Renard, but not to Louis. He knows who the murderer is. He also knows that he is likely to be the next victim. And there is very little he or Renard or anyone else can do. Each clue they find raises more questions than it answers. Nothing is as it appears. Louis's best hope is to turn the tables on his murderer. Instead of knowledge, he has only his intuition and his intelligence. Instead of power or influence, he has only his own past. Louis finds himself on a lonely and dangerous journey of self-discovery. He thought he was beyond surprises. But every turn of the road reveals new mysteries, and the resolution is a shock. A French Country Murder is a story of political intrigue, corruption and jealousy. It is also a story of love and friendship and, of course, France. This book was later published as Le Crime.

A cross between The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and A Year in Provence, this ingenious thriller gets stunning raves from one and all: Former State Department expert Louis Morgon finds a murdered body on the doorstep of his charming little house in France, and he and the local gendarme team up to solve the murder. Thriller and mystery lovers: Bon appetit! This book was first published by St. Martin's Minotaur/Thomas Dunne Books as A French Country Murder.

From the critically acclaimed author of Le Crime, published in hardcover as A French Country Murder, comes this electrifying sequel featuring former CIA operative Louis Morgon and his partner-in-crime-solving, Jean Renard, the gendarme of their small French village. Louis Morgon is living a quiet life of good food, good wine, and good friends. When his house is burglarized, he thinks nothing of it. But the burglar and the motive for the burglary are not as simple as they seem. And the consequences of the seemingly trivial break-in will lead Louis and his loved ones to the end of the earth---and quite possibly to the end of their lives.

The War on Terror has serious consequences, even for Louis Morgon, even in his small, not quite forgotten French village. When he learns that a misguided CIA campaign has led to the arrest and extreme rendition of Zaharia, who has been like a son to him, Louis is determined to find a real terrorist to exchange for the boy. His body may be failing, but his mind is still nimble. It better be. He has to play a double game navigating the dangerous no-man's land between the CIA and Al Qaeda, turning up old scorpions who, like Louis, would rather be left alone. His quest takes him to Algiers, Cairo, the slums of Paris and finally New Jersey. He makes some sinister enemies. But he also assembles an unlikely collection of friends and allies, including a bona fide al Qaeda terrorist, some gang-bangers in Newark, and a dog named Buster. And he even finds love along the way.