The Francis Bacon Mysteries (1-5) – Janice Law Free Audiobook

Written by Janice Law
Read by Paul Ansdell
Format: M4B
Bitrate: 32 Kbps
Unabridged

(I caught it before anyone else noticed, but my first upload had an incomplete file, this one is fixed.)

Fires of London
The Francis Bacon Mysteries, Book 1

Francis Bacon walks the streets of World War II London, employed as a warden for the ARP to keep watch for activities that might tip off the Axis powers. Before the war, Bacon had travelled to Berlin and Paris, picking up snatches of culture from a succession of middle-aged men charmed by his young face. Known for his flamboyant personal life and expensive taste, Bacon has returned home to live with his former nanny in a cramped bohemian apartment. But one night, death intrudes on his after-hours paradise. When a young man is found dead in the park, his head smashed in, Bacon and the rest of London’s demimonde realize that they have much more to fear than the faraway scream of war.

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The Prisoner of the Riviera
The Francis Bacon Mysteries, Book 2

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. 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 on the Riviera. What gambler could resist a trip to Monte Carlo? The Riviera may be lovely, but in 1945, its sun-drenched beaches can be just as dark as the back alleys of London.

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Moon Over Tangier
The Francis Bacon Mysteries, Book 3

For artist Francis Bacon, life with David grows more dangerous by the day. When sober, he is charming, but when he drinks, he is violent, slashing Francis’s paintings and threatening to gut the painter, too. When David leaves London for Morocco, Francis cannot help but follow this man whom he loves, but can no longer trust. In Tangier, they find a thriving community of expats who guzzle champagne while revolutionaries gather in the desert. But in Morocco’s International Zone, death does not wait for rebellion. After Francis identifies a friend’s Picasso as a fake, the police ask him to investigate the forger’s demise. Between the bustling city and the empty desert, Francis finds that in Morocco, even the fakes can be worth killing for.

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Nights in Berlin
The Francis Bacon Mysteries, Book 4

Francis Bacon never cared much for country living, so he is overjoyed when his father sends him to Berlin as punishment for his not-so-innocent flirtations with the other boys at school. With afternoons at the cinema, dinner at the Hotel Adlon, and nights at the most outrageous cabarets in Germany – and in his Uncle Lastings’ bed – he’ll fit right in. As tensions rise, Francis finds his Uncle Lastings busy welcoming countless men into his hotel room – some invited for pleasure, others to be recruited for the fight against Bolshevism. But when the Nazis send Lastings fleeing for his life, Francis is left alone, penniless, and hunted, with only his keen sense of hedonism to distract him from a city that gets more menacing every night.

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Afternoons in Paris
The Francis Bacon Mysteries, Book 5

Francis Bacon was having a ball in Berlin – until his uncle Lastings disappeared, leaving Francis alone, broke, and wanted by the burgeoning Nazi party for a political murder he didn’t commit. Luckily, for a young painter still learning his craft, there’s no better place to find refuge than the cafes of Paris. In the City of Lights, Francis can perfect his French, complete his education, and – if he’s lucky – escape with his life. Strolling along the boulevard one lovely evening, he hears gunshots and sees a Russian emigre cut down by an assassin. Francis dashes into the night and flees to the countryside, but when Uncle Lastings reappears, Francis will find himself back in the thick of a deadly game of international espionage.