Discover Mysteries to Read
Recruited by the CIA to work in their financial crimes division, Louise Moscow sets out to expose the corruption that took down the world’s oldest bank. A riveting international thriller!
~ BookBub Team
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Louise Moscow hops from one undercover assignment to another, aided by both a curiosity about how the world works and a determination to make it work for her. Equal parts scholar and sensualist, she will find out the answer but enjoy herself while doing so. One moment she’s deploying her brand of “forensic accounting” to uncover some obscure financial information that may blow up the case; the next she’s swooning over the complex “barnyard smells” of a particular Burgundy. Evanoff is clearly besotted with French history and effectively blends it with her heroine’s struggles against uncooperative witnesses, a mysterious vine disease, a gun-wielding monk, and a secret society. Moscow glides through it all with a James Bondian flair. Able to handle a high-powered speedboat, an ex-lover, or a ginger-haired villain with equal ease, this international spy is a protagonist you’ll want to follow.
Targeted Age Group:: 15 and up
What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
Before I even began writing PINOT NOIR, I had already decided to make Book Two a fictionalized version of the real-life ‘bankers grave’ scandal, the un-solved murder of billionaire Edmund J. Safra. My mother suggested the title during an event associated with my first novel, FOLIAGE. It stuck with me, and I began my research of Pinot Noir wine, which pointed to the Burgundy region of France. What shocked me was the real-life crimes of the region I discovered, which were linked to high level public officials leading all the way to the capital of the European Union, Brussels, Belgium.
Investment banker Louise Moscow loves her new career in late 1980s Paris. With a high-profile dream job wooing rich clientele, she enjoys the lavish lifestyle in a glamorous city. When she stumbles upon criminal activity at her company, the FBI and CIA force her to cooperate and bring down the murderous bankers in what turns out to be one of the greatest financial scandals of the twentieth century.
Targeted Age Group:: 18-80
What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
When I lived in Paris, several of my close friends worked at the BCCI Paris branch. When the bottom fell out, they lost their jobs and it was a really big deal. When I decided to write my novel around that scandal and began to dig deeper, I realized how complicated the story was and I needed to conduct more research beyond what I learned from my friends. The opening scene of my book was my invention, but was loosely based an event mentioned in a book called “The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI,” written by journalists Jonathan Beaty and S.C. Gwynne. I found more helpful facts in the “Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate,” by Senator John Kerry and Senator Hank Brown. (Toni Nealie)
