Moon Over Tangier
After a bloody fight and a six-week separation, Francis’s lover, the handsome but troubled David, leaves for Morocco, and Francis can’t help but follow. Once there, Francis finds himself part of a thriving expat community in an exotic paradise on the cusp of political upheaval and fraught with post-war intrigue and revolutionary fervor, a place where David’s demons will either free him or kill him. When the painter of a forged Picasso turns up dead, the police ask Francis to investigate. The last thing he wants is to get involved in another mystery, but the authorities threaten to throw David in jail if he refuses. Inevitably, things go badly and Francis ends up facing down Russian and British spies with only his wits to keep him alive.
The third installment in Law’s Francis Bacon Mystery series is an easy, entertaining read. Francis’s cheeky attitude adds levity even when the going gets tough, and his unabashed embrace of sexual desire is refreshing while his heartache over his doomed affair with David is touching. The pacing is good, the bad guys—and gals—are bad, and the integration of art and painting provides a solid framework on which to hang the story.
