Aileen G. Baron, The Torch of Tangier

The Torch of Tangier

Aileen G. Baron

Poisoned Pen, May 2006, $24.95, 204 pp.

ISBN: 1590582225

Archaeologist Dr. Drury entices dissertation candidate Lily Sampson to accompany him to a Tangier excavation of a Neanderthal site in the Cave of Hercules. She has been there for over a year, and has seen it turn from an International zone into an area controlled by Spain. At present she cannot work because mud flooded the caves, and the Spanish Governor denies the Americans access.

Dr. Drury confesses that he is OSS, and had asked Lily to join his dig because she has skills that will prove useful to the Allies. Lily agrees to work for the American Legation on a top secret mission Operation Torch, the Ally landing of men to push out the Axis from North Africa. As she begins her assignment her mentor is killed and the key code box missing; Lily realizes that she must find it or Operation Torch will be compromised.

This exciting historical thriller gives the reader a first hand seat to the exotic North African region during 1942. Readers, like the heroine, are unsure who to trust, as an ally today can be tomorrow's enemy. The protagonist is a strong-willed and courageous person who does her part to support the war effort, which means in her case being in danger at all times. Think Casablanca as Aileen G. Baron makes the past come vividly alive so that the audience will believe this is the beginning of a long friendship.