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Peter Steiner

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L'Assassin (A Louis Morgon Thriller Book 2) Kindle Edition

by Peter Steiner (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.3 308 ratings

Book 2 of 5: Louis Morgon Thrillers

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“Literate crime thrillers don't get much better than this.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

From the critically acclaimed author of Le Crime, published in hardcover as A French Country Murder, comes this electrifying sequel featuring former CIA operative Louis Morgon and his partner-in-crime-solving, Jean Renard, the gendarme of their small French village.

Louis Morgon is living a quiet life of good food, good wine, and good friends. When his house is burglarized, he thinks nothing of it. But the burglar and the motive for the burglary are not as simple as they seem. And the consequences of the seemingly trivial break-in will lead Louis and his loved ones to the end of the earth---and quite possibly to the end of their lives.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

American expat Louis Morgon has lived quietly for three decades in a small town in the Loire River valley, painting and tending his garden, but as L’ Assassin begins, his life is about to change. His longtime lover, Solesme, is dying of cancer, and a clumsy burglar has stolen his lawnmower. The 67-year-old Morgon soon realizes that the burglary was the beginning of a plot to brand him a terrorist; the architect of the plot, he also realizes, is Hugh Bowe, his former mentor. Even Morgon’s grown children are at risk, and his only ally is the lone policeman in his small French town. Thwarting Bowe takes Morgon to three continents. This unusual suspense tale generates the building tension associated with such classic international thrillers as Day of the Jackal, and it vividly evokes the more tranquil pace of life in both small town Provence and a Breton village. Add to that a handful of richly drawn characters, and you have a novel with appeal for both political thriller fans and anyone who enjoys international fiction. --Thomas Gaughan

Review

Raves for Peter Steiner’s Louis Morgon Thrillers

“Unforgettable . . . combines elements of Agatha Christie and Robert Ludlum.”
---Bookreporter.com on Le Crime

"Literate crime thrillers don't get much better than this."
---Publishers Weekly (starred review) on L'Assassin

“A talented writer . . . Steiner keeps us fully engaged [and] guessing. He unpeels his characters like so many onions, one layer at a time, [and his] protagonist is refreshing. A wonderfully vivid book about the solitary, sometimes bitter landscape of spycraft. It's a slam dunk!”
---Washington Times on L’Assassin

“A fantastic novel, at once a gripping political thriller and a complex mystery tale.”
---David Brooks, author of Bobos in Paradise, on Le Crime

“A pacy, engrossing thriller that is also a touching examination of the impact of terrorism and counter-terrorism on the lives of those involved.”
---Robert Goddard, author of Into the Blue, on L’Assassin

“Le Carré and Deighton fans will welcome Steiner’s engaging first novel. The scenes in small-town France capture the atmosphere and pace of life there wonderfully.”
---Publishers Weekly on Le Crime

“A page turner---like a good Alan Furst or Graham Greene novel.”
---The Washingtonian on Le Crime

“A rare phenomenon, a beautiful crime novel. When I realized what it was, I read it more slowly to make it last.”
---Thomas Perry, New York Times bestselling author of Nightlife, on Le Crime

“A riveting murder mystery.”
---France Today on Le Crime

“A wonderful read . . . a fresh perspective on the international thriller. Louis Morgan is a marvel, mixing a fierce intel...

About the Author

This is Peter Steiner’s second novel in the Louis Morgon thriller series; the first, Le Crime,originally published in hardcover under the title A French Country Murder,is available in paperback from Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Minotaur. Also known for his cartoons in The New Yorker, he lives in Connecticut.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Chapter One

It looked like a simple burglary at first. In fact, as crimes go, the robbery of Louis Morgon’s house in the village of Saint Leon sur Dême seemed noteworthy only for its ineptitude. The burglar, a small-time criminal known to French police as Pierre Lefort, came to the house in broad daylight and broke a window to let himself in. He poked around the house for a while, and then he cut the lock on the barn, where Louis had his painting studio, and went in.

A short while later he loaded up his loot and left. The old car backfired as Lefort drove down the steep driveway and turned onto the lane. Solesme Lefourier was pruning her roses, and she paused to look as he passed. The handle of Louis’s lawnmower bobbed and weaved from Lefort’s open trunk like a semaphore.

Solesme’s eyes were failing because of her illness, so she could not read the license plate, but she got a good look at the car and the driver. She went inside and called the police, which in Saint Leon meant Jean Renard. He was wrestling with some overdue reports and was relieved to hear the phone ring. "Renard, you better come," said Solesme. "I think Louis’s house has just been robbed."

Louis had returned home by the time Renard got there, and Solesme had flagged him down and told him what had happened. Louis was going through the house to see what might have been stolen, while Solesme sat outside at the table under the linden tree. Renard joined Louis inside. He wrote an inventory of what was missing, but as far as Louis could tell, nothing much had been taken.

Louis seemed disappointed, as though he had mainly been robbed of a bit of excitement. "It was a pathetic effort on the thief’s part," he said. "Besides the lawnmower, which would barely start, the guy took some screwdrivers, an electric drill, and a couple of sweaters. I’m always glad to see you, Jean," he said to the policeman, "but I’m sorry you had to come out for this."

"Worst of all," said the policeman, "it means writing another report."

Renard went back outside and pulled two chairs up beside Solesme while Louis heated water. The air was heavy with the perfume of linden blossoms, and the three friends sat sipping tea and listening to the bees at work just above their heads in the sullen afternoon air.

When Solesme saw Louis looking at her in that way he sometimes had now, she waved her hand as though a bee had flown too close to her face.

Renard pushed his chair away from the table. "I have to get back," he said, and stood to drink his last sip.

Once the policeman was gone, Louis said, "So, what did he say?"

"Who?" said Solesme.

"Who. Bertrand, of course."

"Bertrand! He’s just guessing. What does he know? They’re all just guessing."

"He’s your doctor," said Louis. "So tell me: what did he say?"

"He said it has spread," said Solesme. "It is in my bones. But still, even with all his tests, what does he really know?"

"He’s your doctor," said Louis, sounding helpless this time.

Louis had expected this news, but he was not ready for it. He stood, but he did not come around the table to her, as she feared he might. The last thing she wanted right now was his comfort.

"I’m just going to look at the garden," he said, and took a few steps in that direction. Solesme stood up to go with him. Her spine was deformedit had been since birthwhich caused her to shift her body oddly as she rose, projecting her right shoulder forward and rising under it. She had the same slight twisting motion in her walk. To Louis she always seemed to be dancing. It was a subtle and odd dance, but he still found it mesmerizing, as he had from the first time they had met.

Thirty years ago he had just arrived in Saint Leon for the first time. It was the summer solstice, the night of music. All over France cities and towns stationed orchestras and bands and choirs in their streets, and music filled the night. The town square in Saint Leon had been decorated with colored lights and cleared of cars. A small stage had been erected.

Louis had not planned to stay the night, but the Chalfonts, who ran the hotel, had insisted he be their guest. Chalfont leaned close to him and spoke in a conspiratorial whisper. "This night is not to be missed, monsieur," he said. Then the music began to play and the entire village rose to dance. The spectacle swept over Louis and somehow, in a way he did not understand that seemedthough he certainly did not believe in magicto be magical, transported him out of his unhappiness.

As it happened, later in the evening Louis was seated next to Solesme, and, though it was not something he would normally have done, he invited her, a complete stranger, to dance. He had always found dancing to be dangerous somehowits sexuality was so public, but he invited her nonetheless.

Solesme stood up in that peculiar way of hers. "Oh, madame, I am sorry," Louis said in his awkward French. "I did not know. Please forgive me."

"But I love to dance," said Solesme with raised eyebrows and a charming smile, and held out her hand to him. The gypsy musicians played and sang plaintive waltzes, and Louis and Solesme danced around and around the square, caught up in the swirling throng.

The next day Louis continued on his journey, but afterwards he was drawn back to Saint Leon, and not only because of that evening. The town was small, and out of the way, and ordinary. It suited himsomeone who wanted to disappear and begin life anewperfectly. He bought the house and the barn at the top of the hill. He cleaned out the barn and made it into a painting studio, although he had never painted before. He planted a large vegetable garden and flowers and shrubs, although the only gardening he had ever done had been to push a lawnmower back and forth around his yard in Virginia.

Louis and Solesme had now been lovers for most of those thirty years. It was not surprising, therefore, that he did not give the burglary as much thought as he might have. Her illness terrified him. However, the burglar, Pierre Lefort, seemed determined that Louis should not forget his handiwork. The day after the burglary, while Louis was in the market picking out a fish for supper, he saw a manPierre Lefortwalking across the square wearing his sweater.

"You won’t believe it," he said as he burst through the door of Renard’s office. "I just saw the thief."

"What?!" said Renard.

"The burglar," said Louis, "the man who robbed my house. I just saw him. He fits Solesme’s description, and he’s wearing my sweater."

By the time Louis and Renard rushed outside, the man was no longer in the square. They walked through the side streets. "How do you know it’s your sweater?" said Renard. They found Lefort behind the post office wearing a vivid, blue and yellow striped sweater, too short in the body and too long in the arms. He was getting into the car Solesme had described. Renard confronted him and placed him under arrest.

Pierre Lefort appeared before a judge in Tours. He was convicted of burglary and was sentenced to serve a year in the Granville prison. Louis repaired the broken window, replaced the padlock on the barn door with a new, sturdier one, and forgot about the robbery.

Dr. Mauricio Bertrand, the oncologist, had been unsparing in describing for Solesme the likely course of her cancer, how it had moved from her bones to her organs, and how it would eventually spread into her brain. "There is nothing more we can do," he said finally. "We can, however, keep you comfortable until the end."

"And when is the end?" Solesme wanted to know.

"It is only a guess," said Dr. Bertrand, shrugging, "but judging from the scans, I would say two months, three at the most."

Solesme was resigned to her illness and to her death, but Louis was not. "It is something we all have to do," she said. "Even you." But the thought of having only three months weighed heavily on him. Ninety days. "It is only a number," said Solesme, "and it is only Bertrand’s number. It will come when it comes."

Louis dredged the fish in cornmeal and rosemary and put it on the fire. The air grew fragrant with burning rosemary. After eating, they watched a movie together, a funny thing called Les Visiteurs. They had both seen it before, but they laughed and laughed all over again. Then they sat down together to read.

"I’m going," said Louis suddenly. He stood and went to the door. Solesme did not try to stop him. He left without looking at her and trudged up the steep driveway to his house. The smell of rosemary hung in the air, like a promise, or a memory. He wanted to weep. How could Bertrand be correct? Solesme seemed fine. She still accompanied him on long walks across the valley. And just last week they had spent the entire afternoon visiting museums and galleries in Tours. They had even returned to several galleries because she had insisted on buying him a small pencil drawing that he had admired, and he could not remember which gallery it had been in.

But now a number had been named. And the limit on their time had become specific and severe. It forced its way into his consciousness again and again, and sometimeslike nowit became all but unbearable. Time was now unimaginably precious. And yet, at the same time, he felt as though he might suffocate in her presence. In his mind he could not separate Solesme from her death. How dare she be dying?

Louis lay in his bed listening to the church bell. Four o’clock. He had heard every hour and every half hour through the night. Louis thought about death, the utter absurdity and the complete power of it. He gave death a face in his half-awake mind, and it came up looking like Hugh Bowes: nearsighted, pallid, fat, and dangerous. Louis had not thought of Hugh for a long time, and suddenly there he was, lo...

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00FO8GV42
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Minotaur Books; Reprint edition (July 22, 2008)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ July 22, 2008
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 2493 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 267 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #705,774 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #3,198 in Assassination Thrillers (Books)
- #3,646 in International Mystery & Crime (Kindle Store)
- #6,609 in Serial Killer Thrillers

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4.3 308 ratings

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Peter Steiner

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PETER STEINER was born and grew up in Cincinnati. After the University of Miami and the Free University of Berlin, and then after serving in the U.S. Army in Germany, he got a PHD. in German literature. He taught at Dickinson College for eight years, but left teaching to become an artist and cartoonist. For the next twenty-five years he made his living as a cartoonist for The New Yorker and many other publications. He created the cartoon "On the internet nobody knows you're a dog," the most reproduced cartoon The New Yorker has ever published. In the late 1990's he began writing novels, at first for his own amusement. Then A French Country Murder was published in 2003. L'Assassin followed in 2008; The Terrorist in 2010, The Resistance in 2012, The Capitalist in 2016. His most recent novel is The Good Cop, his sixth, published by Severn House in 2019. He lives in Connecticut and spends a good part of each year in rural France. He divides his time between writing, painting and cartooning. His paintings can be seen on his website, plsteiner.com. His cartoons are published on his blog Hopeless but not Serious at plsteiner.com/blog.

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4.3 out of 5

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David J. Quenelle

A penetrating look at justice in the world of spy’s, intrigue, revenge.

Reviewed in the United States on April 13, 2020

Verified Purchase

I was amazed at how the author set the plot up to show how Louis Margon was able to play the evil designs of his murderous enemy
Into a trap created by evil hate, anger and corruption. The poignant description of Northern French coastal region gave the story a surreal setting. Enormously entertaining.

Reviewed in the United States on November 18, 2019

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I've enjoyed all three of the Louis Morgon books by Peter Steiner. Good easy reading and interesting and charming main characters.

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Suzanne T

Another Louis Morgon Sleeper

Reviewed in the United States on October 29, 2014

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This is the second book of the Louis Morgon series set in a small French town. Louis, an expatriot with a CIA background, just wants to live a peaceful life with his paints, garden, cooking, and friends. However, Hugh Bowes, his nemesis from the past, resurfaces. The writing is gentle, reflective, and intelligent, while the story becomes creative and rather violent. It's a surprising read - and doesn't go where you might think.

One person found this helpful

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ParisMouff

Why are two Kindle versions of same book listed?

Reviewed in the United States on August 4, 2013

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Why are both Le Crime and A French Country Murder listed in Kindle as apparently two different books with two different prices. I purchased them both (and luckily was able to return one) but it was frustrating to open A French Country Murder and know immediately that I had already read the book under another title name. It is indicated somewhere that A French Country Murder was the original hardcover version but viewed both together on the Kindle page this is not apparent. You people should remove one of them (preferable the more expensive version).

4 people found this helpful

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db

Captivating

Reviewed in the United States on July 18, 2020

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He writes a good tale that is captivating. I stayed up too late to read it all the way through...glad I did.

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Jane L

Its a very compelling story that resolves issues from the ...

Reviewed in the United States on February 4, 2016

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Its a very compelling story that resolves issues from the first book in the series. The author acknowledges his main character's flaws, making Louis Morgon increasingly sympathetic in his time of loss, all while set against the beauty of France.

Reviewed in the United States on October 22, 2018

Verified Purchase

This is more than a thriller. It is a meditation on family, choices and obsession. Well worth a read. You will not be disappointed.

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Jim Hanley

Very entertaining, particularly if you enjoy France and/or history.

Reviewed in the United States on December 4, 2012

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Entertaining story, well told with comfortable characters against a richly textured French tapestry of village life and a history shot through with contradiction, deception and lies. Very enjoyable and useful towards understanding a part of French history that is still shrouded if not entirely disavowed.

3 people found this helpful

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penny king

Retired CIA in France!

Reviewed in Australia on July 14, 2014

Verified Purchase

An unlikely combination - and one which works for me. Believable characters and plot. The setting is described very well. All in all - a good read - AND there are more!

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L'Assassin (A Louis Morgon Thriller Book 2) Kindle Edition

Editorial Reviews

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Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

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Peter Steiner

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