An American expatriate's quiet life in rural France is disturbed when he finds a body on his doorstep in this tale of intrigue, corruption and jealousy.

"Le Carre and Deighton fans will welcome New Yorker cartoonist Steiner's engaging . . .first novel." — Publishers Weekly

When political intrigue drove Louis Morgon from a successful career at the State Department, he moved to a cottage in France, far from Washington and what he called "the sordid world." He took up painting. He grew vegetables and flowers. He ate long, lovely meals on the terrace overlooking fields of sunflowers. He thought that he had found happiness.
Then one day Louis's past lands squarely on his doorstep. It does so in the shape of a dead man. His throat has been slit. He wears a cap with " liberte" embroidered on it. Except for the local cop, Jean Renard, the police are strangely uninterested. This seems peculiar to Renard, but not to Louis. He knows who the murderer is. He also knows that he is likely to be the next victim. And there is very little he or Renard or anyone else can do. Each clue they find raises more questions than it answers. Nothing is as it appears.

Louis's best hope is to turn the tables on his murderer. Instead of knowledge, he has only his intuition and his intelligence. Instead of power or influence, he has only his own past. Louis finds himself on a lonely and dangerous journey of self-discovery. He thought he was beyond surprises. But every turn of the road reveals new mysteries, and the resolution is a shock.

"A beautiful crime novel." —Thomas Perry, Edgar Award–winning author of The Butcher's Boy

"A terrific, engrossing novel about love, friendship, betrayal, and trust." —Roz Chast, cartoonist for The New Yorker

"A wonderful novel—keen-eyed, circumspect, patient and wise. . . . A French Country Murder est superbe —as a study of a man whose choices haunt him and as a quietly thrilling mystery." —Jim Fusilli, author of Closing Time and A Well-Known Secret

"An unforgettable tale of mystery, madness and romance. . . . It can only be hoped that this novel will receive the attention, respect and success it so deserves in order to encourage Steiner to tread further into the waters of fiction. Very highly recommended." —Bookreporter.com