A Kiss for Christmas

Publisher Marketing: Christmas Eve 1981, Paris, France. Ex-British secret agent John Macfarlane has returned from a trip to Damascus with a consignment of blood diamonds he wants to sell. His contact is late and he is impatient. Outside the rain is slashing down in torrents; inside the little bar in Clichy where he waits, Don't You Want Me Baby? is playing on the jukebox. Macfarlane sees his contact's car, an armoured ZiL, come into view. At last. A deal is done; the diamonds are sold for cash and Hermann Goering's gold-plated Luger, along with his Blue Max. Pleased with how things have turned out, Macfarlane returns to the bar to freshen up and get ready to go home to see his wife and children. It is while he is in the washroom that the assassins hit. Two men, European. Macfarlane survives but he is wounded. He calls his wife, but she doesn't reply. A sick feeling in his gut tells Macfarlane that she too has been hit. Bleeding heavily from his wounded arm, there is only one person he can ask for help: his ex-mistress Irene. Over the next few weeks the action intensifies as Macfarlane pursues his attackers with the help of Irene and contacts in Paris' criminal underworld, leading to a tense and action packed finale.