An American spy in Paris solves a legendary mystery as the Pulitzer Prize–winning author’s “thrilling historical series” continues (The Wall Street Journal).
Former Chicago journalist turned globe-trotting spy Christopher Marlowe Cobb has already lived many lives—from London to Mexico to Berlin—when he returns to France in 1922. Where better to work on his novel than among such literary expatriates as Ezra Pound and Ford Madox Ford, who convene at the Shakespeare & Company bookstore in postwar Paris? Among them is Ernest Hemingway, fellow lone-wolf war correspondent, new friend, and confidante. Like Cobb, Hemingway is writing a novel. Unlike Cobb, however, Hemingway’s manuscript has just been stolen off a train to Lausanne by what he’s sure were foreign agents. To know what Hemingway knows is risky enough. But to write about it is positively dangerous. Never one to shy away from a challenge, Cobb volunteers to retrieve the manuscript—but he’ll need all of his spycraft skills to infiltrate the compound where it’s cached.
Robert Olen Butler is the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of sixteen novels and six volumes of short fiction. Best known for his extensive writings on Vietnam, Butler’s work spans a range of genres including four historical adventure novels featuring Christopher Marlowe Cobb. Originally from Illinois, Butler now lives in Tallahassee, where he teaches writing at Florida State University.