Description
In postwar France, a gambler finds that surviving his vacation may be a long shot
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. They do what they can to stanch the flow of blood, but the Frenchman dies in the hospital. 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, Madame Renard, on the Riviera. What gambler could resist a trip to Monte Carlo?
After handing over the parcel, Bacon learns that Madame Renard is dead-and the striking young woman who accepted the delivery is an imposter. The Riviera may be lovely, but in 1945, its sun-drenched beaches can be just as dark as the back alleys of London.
Janice Law's latest novel continues the fictional account of the infamous British painter Francis Bacon. Set in the war-darkened streets of London in the 1940s, this historical novel successfully combines the moodiness of Victorian-era detective tales with a unique and compelling storyline.
About the Author
Janice Law (b. 1941) is an acclaimed author of mystery fiction. The Watergate scandal inspired her to write her first novel, The Big Payoff, which introduced Anna Peters, a street-smart young woman who blackmails her boss, a corrupt oil executive. The novel was a success, winning an Edgar nomination, and Law went on to write eight more in the series, including Death Under Par and Cross-Check. Law has written historical mysteries, standalone suspense, and, most recently, the Francis Bacon Mysteries, which include The Prisoner of the Riviera, winner of the 2013 Lambda Literary Gay Mystery Award. She lives and writes in Connecticut.
Reviews
"A writer who mixes venerated clue-chasing techniques with . . . political dynamite." -Hartford Courant
"Law draws a sympathetic, even tender study of a self-centered but essentially decent soul in the kind of torment that isn't the least poetic." -The New York Times on The Lost Diaries of Iris Weed
"Law powerfully evokes . . . uneasiness and rising tension, all in a narrative style sometimes verging on the poetic but always suspenseful." -Kirkus Reviews on The Night Bus
"Law does a bangup job of recreating London during the Blitz and portraying real-life artist Francis Bacon as an unlikely sleuth." -Publishers Weekly on Fires 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
"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." -Toronto Star
Awards
Winner of Lambda Literary Awards (Gay Mystery) 2014.
Book Information
ISBN 9781480436008
Author Janice Law
Format Paperback
Page Count 232
Imprint MysteriousPress.com/Open Road
Publisher Open Road Media
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. They do what they can to stanch the flow of blood, but the Frenchman dies in the hospital. 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, Madame Renard, on the Riviera. What gambler could resist a trip to Monte Carlo?
After handing over the parcel, Bacon learns that Madame Renard is dead-and the striking young woman who accepted the delivery is an imposter. The Riviera may be lovely, but in 1945, its sun-drenched beaches can be just as dark as the back alleys of London.
Janice Law's latest novel continues the fictional account of the infamous British painter Francis Bacon. Set in the war-darkened streets of London in the 1940s, this historical novel successfully combines the moodiness of Victorian-era detective tales with a unique and compelling storyline.
About the Author
Janice Law (b. 1941) is an acclaimed author of mystery fiction. The Watergate scandal inspired her to write her first novel, The Big Payoff, which introduced Anna Peters, a street-smart young woman who blackmails her boss, a corrupt oil executive. The novel was a success, winning an Edgar nomination, and Law went on to write eight more in the series, including Death Under Par and Cross-Check. Law has written historical mysteries, standalone suspense, and, most recently, the Francis Bacon Mysteries, which include The Prisoner of the Riviera, winner of the 2013 Lambda Literary Gay Mystery Award. She lives and writes in Connecticut.
Reviews
"A writer who mixes venerated clue-chasing techniques with . . . political dynamite." -Hartford Courant
"Law draws a sympathetic, even tender study of a self-centered but essentially decent soul in the kind of torment that isn't the least poetic." -The New York Times on The Lost Diaries of Iris Weed
"Law powerfully evokes . . . uneasiness and rising tension, all in a narrative style sometimes verging on the poetic but always suspenseful." -Kirkus Reviews on The Night Bus
"Law does a bangup job of recreating London during the Blitz and portraying real-life artist Francis Bacon as an unlikely sleuth." -Publishers Weekly on Fires 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
"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." -Toronto Star
Awards
Winner of Lambda Literary Awards (Gay Mystery) 2014.
Book Information
ISBN 9781480436008
Author Janice Law
Format Paperback
Page Count 232
Imprint MysteriousPress.com/Open Road
Publisher Open Road Media
