In colonial Morocco, a painter navigates a conspiracy of forgery, corruption, and murder For Francis, life with David grows more dangerous by the day. When sober, he is charming, but when he drinks, he is violent, slashing Francis's paintings and threatening to gut the painter, too. When David leaves London for Morocco, Francis cannot help but follow this man whom he loves but can no longer trust. In Tangier, they find a thriving community of expats who guzzle champagne while revolutionaries gather in the desert. But in Morocco's International Zone, death does not wait for rebellion. After Francis identifies a friend's Picasso as a fake, the police call him in to investigate the forger's demise. If he refuses, they will throw David in jail, where inmates and the DTs will kill him within the week. Between the bustle of the city and the emptiness of the desert, Francis finds that in Morocco, even the fakes can be worth killing for. "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 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. She lives and writes in Connecticut.