Dancer in the Dust

Twenty years ago, Ray Campbell, now a cautious risk-management consultant, was a well-intentioned aid worker dedicated to improving conditions in Lubanda, a newly independent African country. He is forced to reconsider that year of living dangerously when a friend from his time in Lubanda is found murdered in a New York alley. Signs suggest that this most recent tragedy is rooted in the far more distant one of Martine Aubert, the only woman Ray ever truly loved and whose fate hed sealed in a moment of grievous error: “In Lubanda, twenty years before, Id rolled the dice for a woman who was not even present at the table, and on the outcome of that toss, a braver and more knowing heart than mine had been forfeited.”

Martine Aubert was a white, native Lubandan farmer whose dream for her homeland starkly conflicted with those charged with its so-called development. But Ray's failure to understand Martines commitment to her country had placed a noose around her neck, one tightened by a circle of vicious men, cruel taunts, and whistling machetes. It is Ray's return to the passion hed once felt for Martine that makes A Dancer in the Dust the enthralling and moving story of two loves: Rays love for Martine Aubert, and Martines love for a homeland that did not love her back.

“Cook excels at merging contemporary and past storylines into one narrative . . . [and] masterfully captures the tumultuous state of a country in upheaval.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Edgar Award winner Thomas Cook has a string of beautifully written and elegantly plotted thrillers to his name. A Dancer in the Dust is one of his best ever. This lush story combines current events and a wonderfully realized love story.”—Globe and Mail

“Cook excels at merging contemporary and past storylines into one narrative . . . [and] masterfully captures the tumultuous state of a country in upheaval.”—Kirkus Reviews

“[A] very readable genre-twisting thriller/love story/crime novel that will captivate readers from the start to the finish.”—Huntington News

“Not since John Le Carres The Mission Song have I seen such a loving and sorrowful portrait of modern Africa. . . . A dark read, but a worthwhile one.”—News and Observer (Raleigh)

“To paraphrase Winston Churchill, this novel is a mystery wrapped in a love story immersed in tragedy. . . . The book is written with grace and simplicity. . . . Highly recommended.”—I Love a Mystery

“[A Dancer in the Dust] is a story of great loss and one mans chance at personal redemption, and it is very, very good. . . . Powerful. . . . Every time I had to put this book aside, I couldnt wait to get back to it.”—Crime Segments

Thomas H. Cook has been nominated for seven Edgar Awards in five different categories. He is the recipient of the Best Novel Edgar Award for The Chatham School Affair, the Martin Beck Award of the Swedish Academy of Detection, the Herodotus Prize for Best Historical Short Story, and the Barry Award for Best Novel for Red Leaves. His most recent novel was the critically acclaimed Sandrines Case.