Peace has come to England and the blackout is over, but the gloom has yet to lift from London. One night, leaving a gambling club where he has run up a considerable tab, the young painter Francis Bacon, accompanied by his lover, sees a man gunned down in the street. Soon afterward, Bacon receives a strange offer from the club owner: He will erase Bacon's debts if the painter delivers a package to the dead man's widow on the Riviera. What gambler could resist a trip to Monte Carlo? The Riviera may be lovely, but in 1945, its sun-drenched beaches can be just as dark as the back alleys of London.
"Artist-sleuth Francis, unflappable and acidly witty, is the star of [Janice Law's] latest nimble historical mystery series...Law's crisp, wry humor, surreptitious revelations of France's deep partisan wounds, and great affection for the marvelously resourceful, suave, and irreverent Francis make for a delectably clever tale."
Booklist
"A writer who mixes venerated clue-chasing techniques with...political dynamite."
Hartford Courant
"Law is close to perfect in presenting the timeless charms of the Riviera, and she's just as satisfying in shaping Bacon as a reluctant but brave and somewhat lucky sleuth. At the same time, she never allows us to lose sight of Bacon as an emerging artist of immense gifts."
