Title: The Prisoner of the Riviera
Description: Peace has come to England and the blackout is over, but the gloom has yet to lift from London. One night, leaving a gambling club where he has run up a considerable tab, the young painter Francis Bacon, accompanied by his lover, sees a man gunned down in the street. They do what they can to stanch the flow of blood, but the Frenchman dies in the hospital. 

Soon afterward, Bacon receives a strange offer from the club owner: He will erase Bacon's debts if the painter delivers a package to the dead man's widow, Madame Renard, on the Riviera. What gambler could resist a trip to Monte Carlo? After handing over the parcel, Bacon learns that Madame Renard is dead -- and the striking young woman who accepted the delivery is an imposter. The Riviera may be lovely, but in 1945, its sun-drenched beaches can be just as dark as the back alleys of London.
Subjects: Painters, Murder, Investigation, Gamblers, Fiction, LGBTQ mystery, LGBTQ historical fiction, Lambda Literary Awards, Lambda Literary Award Winner, Fiction, mystery & detective, general, England, fiction, Crime, fiction, Monte-carlo (monaco), fiction
Places: Monte-Carlo, England, Monte-Carlo (Monaco), Monaco
People: Francis Bacon (1909-1992)
Time periods: 20th century