Customer Reviews

Back in the Real World

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Most American private eye novels are set -understandably enough -within the United States but the " Pete Sawyer " series by Marvin Albert is an exception .Albert was for many years resident in France and this nation provides the setting for the Sawyer books of which this is the second .It is a stand alone book and it is not essential to be familiar with the opening entry in the series " Stone Angel "in order to enjoy this book .

Sawyer visits the French Riviera home of " Crow " another US expatriate ,and his former Vietnam captain where he makes an unwelcome discovery .There are two naked ,dead bodies .One is that of Crow's sister in law Anne- Marie ,while the other corpse is that of a local PI ,August Pilon .The victims were killed by shots from Crow's gun and the ambitious examining magistrate , Escorel ,arrests Crow for the killings .It is a high profile case for Anne-Marie was the daughter-in -law of a noted fashion designer , Mona Vailliant ,who had engaged Pilon to investigate industrial espionage , her designs having been plagiarised by a rival designer in Paris .
The key to the mystery is blackmail and the French Secret Service are implicated in the plot ,especially a rogue agent named Morel ,a man determined that Sawyer will not reveal his government's blackmail or his own scam to extort money from victims .Sawyer is faced with assassination attempts and gun battles en route to the powerful and violent climax to the book .
Sawyer is in many respects a traditional PI -ex military with an eye for the ladies and skilled in combat situations ,he is fiercely loyal to friends and will strain every sinew on their behalf .It is only his dual nationality and place of residence that set him apart from the fictional competition .
The setting adds spice to the well worked out plot and the book will please devotees of the traditional private eye yarn being slick and well written