It was a burglary of epic proportions. An ambassador’s wife was dead, the famous Desert Lights paintings had vanished, and a diplomatic residence was left smoldering. The horrifying incident sent shockwaves through Washington, D.C., forcing the FBI into a frenzied search for the culprits. Pressed for time, the authorities had no choice but to seek the help of one man, Richard Nash, an editor of a New York art journal. Desperate to use his skills, they cajoled and then bullied him into accepting a mission he was reluctant to take. But he eventually agreed to assume the role of an undercover agent for this risky mission: to become a confidant of their lead suspect, Sara Mundhir. After all, she had an axe to grind with the House of Saud, having recently lost a lengthy legal battle for her father’s paintings. But without Nash’s help there was no way to pin her to the crime. For over a year Sara became his world, his constant vigil, his obsession . . . until suddenly she was abducted. Now, six years after the investigation failed, Nash stumbles onto a new clue that could help him find Sara and the answers to a haunting past. But he quickly becomes entangled in a web of murder and deceit, at the heart of which lies a secret he must decipher. If he fails again, a diabolical conspiracy will enter its final phase--an outcome that could turn the entire Middle East into an inferno.
A.C. Frieden (André Frieden) is an international author of political/espionage mysteries and thrillers, including TRANQUILITY DENIED and CANVAS SUNSETS NEVER FADE, and short stories that have been published in various books and collections, including SIN: A DEADLY ANTHOLOGY. Frieden is also an attorney, pilot, martial artist, law professor, equestrian, globetrotter, adventurer, and former army sniper and molecular biologist.
---------------------------------------------
For more information, visit www.acfrieden.com
---------------------------------------------
Frieden was born in Senegal (West Africa), raised in India, Brazil, Switzerland and the UK, and later moved to the United States, where he received two masters, a law degree, a pilot's license, a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, and nurtured his thirst for adventure and his passion for writing mysteries and thrillers. After completing graduate school in Dallas, law school in New Orleans, specialized legal studies in Russia and Austria, and a post-graduate law degree in Chicago, Frieden worked for two major law firms representing Fortune 100 companies, government agencies and leading technology companies. He then worked several years as senior corporate counsel with North America's largest educational services company.
Today, in addition to his fiction writing, Frieden serves as Assistant General Counsel for one of world's largest information services and publishing companies and also teaches multimedia and IP law courses at Columbia College Chicago. He speaks French, Portuguese, Spanish, English and some Russian, and has traveled to nearly sixty countries so far and lived in five, international experience he weaves into his novels. When not practicing law or writing, you'll likely find him scouring the globe for scenes, plots, and expert advice, such as his recent investigative trip to North Korea, clandestine research of the coup in Honduras, hunt for a murder scene in Morocco, search of colonial archives in Vietnam, examination of Serbia's wartime past, covert look into Venezuela's volatile political labyrinth, and in-depth study of Moscow's former Cold War apparatchiki.
Frieden is part of the acclaimed "Chicago Contingent" writers' group and a member of the Mystery Writers of America, Chicago Writers Association, International Association of Crime Writers, and Military Writers Society of America. He is currently working on two sequel thrillers in the Jonathan Brooks series, as well as other novels and anthologies, including OUR TIMELESS DAYS, a collection of short stories inspired by his recent travels to North Korea and China.
