Since 1969 when Colonel Mu'ammar al-Qadhdhafi came to power through a military coup, Libya has been the focus of a great deal of attention. Its experiments with nation building have been viewed with curiosity and its foreign policy with dismay by Western analysts. Much has been written to explain Libya's international and domestic behavior, but des

Having recently inherited ten million dollars from her French Grand-mere, Marie-Christine "Chrissy" Medici is enjoying the sun-drenched beaches and culinary delights of the French Riviera. Prompted by her Grand-mere, Chrissy takes the plunge into her dreamed-of literary career by purchasing Le Loup Garou, a small newspaper in Grasse. But her journalistic profession-and her very life are threatened to be cut short when the newspaper's former editor is found in his sitting room, shot dead. With the help of her sharp-witted Grand-mere, and the soft-spoken, impeccable Sister Angela from Cape Cod, Chrissy sets out to unravel the baffling chain of events that led up to the crime. But human emotions, envy, greed, the pain of lost love, cast suspicion on almost everyone involved. Can this trio of women outwit a deceptive and dangerous killer lurking in their very midst?

It is the winter holidays, and Madame de Medici, Chrissy's beloved grandmother, and sleuthing partner, has decided to spend a traditional Provencal Christmas en famille with her children and grandchildren and assorted guests in her villa in Grasse. She has a surprise for them: two medieval manuscripts which have been brought together for the first time in five centuries to celebrate the eight hundreth anniversary of Grasse's ancient cathedral. But her holiday plans are disrupted when the manuscripts are stolen and a body is found in the orchard. Chrisssy and her grandmother have only a week to solve the mystery and restore peace and order to Grasse and its denizens.

While covering the Mardi Gras carnival in Nice on the French Riviera for her newspaper Le Loup Garou, Chrissy de Medici finds out that she is staying in the hotel room just vacated by an Italian viscount who has jumped off its balcony dressed up as a Harlequin and been runover by an enormous float. The mystery deepens, when Chrissy discovers that almost everyone attending the private wedding of one of the richest man on the Riviera has some link to the dead Harlequin. With her French Grandmother in tow, Chrissy sets out to solve a murder mystery, steeped in family history, lost love and deep hatreds.