Perfect NightWhen ambitious young documentary film maker Nick witnesses the death of a notorious arms dealer in Sri Lanka, he's lucky to escape with his own life. He was on his way to interview him on his yacht when it was blown to smithereens. But the head injuries he receives destroy his memory and his burgeoning career. Years later, working as a film archivist, he uncovers an image in a forgotten reel of film that seems to totally rewrite the incident that

When a naked

the point beyond which one could not go

Shocking but tender

to be from Dido's nanny

In this masterly debut novel

Lausard's dragoons are reduced to flushing out conspirators from the Paris gutters

and the repercussions of this incursion constitute the events of the novel

keeper of the birds who

exotic fruits

The jacket is discoloured on the inside around the edges

and the more Cross pries into the case the further he slips into a pool of violence and evil

and the freebooters will stop at nothing to capture the Papal City of Avignon