In Le Crime, a body was laid at his doorstep and Louis learned that Bowes was trying to exact revenge albeit many years later. Louis used his intellect to tape Bowes's confession which led to his resignation as Secretary of State.

As L'Assassin begins, Louis Morgon is now 67 years old and he is living with his next door neighbor and lover who has been diagnosed with terminal cancer with only 90 days to live. His house is burglarized and being overwhelmed with emotion goes to Finistere (translated 'the end of the earth') to ponder his future in solitude. While there, he has an insight that this is the work of Hugh Bowes. When Louis returns home, he discovers that the incriminating tape he made of Bowes is also missing and that there is surveillance equipment in his French Country home. 

This equipment was used to make a bogus video which implicates Louis Morgon as a terrorist. Hugh Bowes brings the tape to the President of the United States which results in an international manhunt.

Peter Steiner is probably best known for his cartoons in the New Yorker. He is also a painter which explains Morgon's avocation after his retirement from the CIA. While his debut novel was underwhelming and dark with too much description that included pages of detail regarding Louis' walking trip thru the entirety of France after his termination by the CIA, L'Assassin is much better.

There is much less meandering detail and much more action. Louis Morgon remains the intellectual downtrodden hero. His friend, Renard, is the local Gendarme of Saint Leon Sur Deme who functions at a level well beyond his country location. Working together they are able to outsmart the French and American forces who want Louis executed as a terrorist. The denouement occurs in Finistere and is one of the more unusual endings I have read.

 Usually, I would recommend reading the debut novel prior to the sequel but in this case, you might be dissuaded from continuing. I would, however, recommend L'Assassin as an intellectual, international thriller.

--Jerry Solot