The Torch of Tangier

March 13, 2006
Set in 1942, Baron's fast-paced second thriller/mystery featuring Lily Sampson (after 2002's A Fly Has a Hundred Eyes
) finds the attractive archeologist working in Morocco, where her mentor, Prof. Hammond Drury, gets her involved with the clandestine activities of William "Wild Bill" Donovan, the real-life founder of the OSS. Lily and Hammond take cover jobs as part of the American legation in Tangier, while coded messages whiz back and forth in preparation for an Allied surprise offensive against Rommel. Foreign agents of several countries cast an eye on Lily, and two of her friends meet violent ends in a whodunit subplot that borders on the simplistic. Baron may not meld political treachery, murder and historical detail as seamlessly as, say, Michael Pearce in his Egyptian historicals (Death of an Effendi
), but the issues she raises about Western versus Islamic cultural values couldn't be more timely.

May 1, 2006
It is November 1942, and the Allies are about to launch Operation Torch, the military offensive to drive out the German army from North Africa. Archaeologist Lily Sampson has been stuck in Tangier since the war began and the Spanish Guardia Civil closed down her dig. Furthermore, the dig's head is involved in some clandestine businesss, making the Germans suspicious of him and Lily. Intrigue and danger erupt in Tangier's narrow streets as Lily is pulled into an OSS operation and people around her begin to die. Baron wrote her first novel about Lily Sampson ("A Fly Has a Hundred Eyes") when she was 76 years old. She returns here with a story that is just as riveting and suspenseful.

Copyright 2006 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2006
Baron, a retired professor of archaeology who penned who her first novel at age 76 (" A Fly Has a Hundred Eyes," 2002), returns with a second book featuring young archaeology grad student Lily Sampson. It's now 1941, and Lily finds herself in the politically turbulent city of Tangier at the behest of brilliant professor Hammond Drury, who asked her to join him on a Moroccan dig. Lily soon finds out, however, that her "competence in digging" isn't Drury's real concern: it's the Allied initiative in North Africa. A murky stew of spies and counterspies, friends and enemies, marks this colorful, convoluted espionage thriller, which may not be easy to follow for readers whose knowledge of World War II doesn't stretch beyond the European theater. On the other hand, those who like their thrillers steeped in exotic climes will find intriguing political and cultural conflict aplenty as Lily becomes the linchpin for a vital Allied operation. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)