Book description
The classic tale of suspense set in Provence, where an English tourist
investigates a series of mysterious deaths, from the acclaimed master of
action and suspense.
From all over Europe, even from behind the Iron Curtain, gypsies make
an annual pilgrimage to the holy shrine of their patron saint in the
Provence region of southern France. But something is different about
this year's gathering, with many suspicious deaths.
Cecile Dubois and Neil Bowman decide to investigate. Eavesdropping,
Bowman discovers that a man named Gaiuse Strome is financing the
gypsies, and his suspicions on the real identity of Strome center on a
highly wealthy aristocrat, distinguished folklorist and gastronome, Le
Grand Duc Charles de Croytor, whose girlfriend Lila Delafont is a friend
of Cecile.
As they follow the caravan, Bowman and Cecile find that their lives in
danger many times in an effort to uncover the secret the gypsies are so
determined to hide, and before long are running for their lives.
Alistair MacLean, the son of a Scots minister, was brought up in the
Scottish Highlands. In 1941 he joined the Royal Navy. After the war he
read English at Glasgow University and became a schoolmaster. The two
and a half years he spent aboard a wartime cruiser were to give him the
background for HMS Ulysses, his remarkably successful first novel,
published in 1955. He is now recognized as one of the outstanding
popular writers of the 20th century, the author of 29 worldwide
bestsellers, many of which have been filmed.
