The Francis Bacon Mysteries Series

In postwar France, a gambler finds that surviving his vacation may be a long shot 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. They do what they can to stanch the flow of blood, but the Frenchman dies in the hospital. 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, Madame Renard, on the Riviera. What gambler could resist a trip to Monte Carlo? After handing over the parcel, Bacon learns that Madame Renard is dead—and the striking young woman who accepted the delivery is an imposter. The Riviera may be lovely, but in 1945, its sun-drenched beaches can be just as dark as the back alleys of London.

A killer takes refuge in the blacked-out streets of wartime London, upending the world of one of Britain’s greatest painters in this chilling and captivating reimagining of the life of Francis Bacon 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—who’s also his biggest collector—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.

The first three brilliantly realized novels in the Lambda Literary Award–winning historical mystery series featuring the real-life British painter.   Spanning London during the Blitz to the postwar French Riviera to Tangier in the 1950s, these three mysteries in Janice Law’s award-winning Francis Bacon series richly reimagine the life of the famous and flamboyant Irish-born British painter as an “artist-sleuth . . . unflappable and acidly witty” as he courts danger, solves murders, and navigates international intrigue (Booklist).   Fires of London: Francis Bacon patrols the streets of wartime London during the Blitz as an air raid warden, keeping watch for activities that might tip off the Axis powers. One night while making his rounds, the painter discovers an acquaintance from the gay bars murdered in Hyde Park. But he is only the first victim. Under cover of the blackout, someone is killing young gay men. When Bacon himself is suspected, he’s driven to find a killer on the ground, even as the Luftwaffe continues to rain death from the sky. Fires of London was a 2012 Lambda Literary Award Finalist for Best Gay Mystery.   “Law does a bangup job of recreating London during the Blitz, and portraying real-life artist Francis Bacon as an unlikely sleuth.” —Publishers Weekly   The Prisoner of the Riviera: World War II may be over, but the painter’s troubles are just beginning. After Bacon and his lover try to save a Frenchman gunned down outside a London gambling club, the casino owner approaches him with a proposition: He will forgive Bacon’s considerable debts if he delivers a package to the dead man’s widow on the French Riviera. What gambler could resist a trip to Monte Carlo? But against a bright backdrop of sun-drenched beaches, Bacon is soon drawn into dark intrigue and forced to gamble with his life. The Prisoner of the Riviera won the 2013 Lambda Literary Award for Best Gay Mystery.   “Law is close to perfect in presenting the timeless charms of the Riviera, and she’s just as satisfying in shaping Bacon as a reluctant but brave and somewhat lucky sleuth.” —Toronto Star   Moon Over Tangier: Following his unstable lover, David, from London to colonial Morocco, Bacon falls in with a thriving community of expats in Tangier who guzzle champagne while revolutionaries gather in the desert. But when the painter identifies a friend’s Picasso as a fake, he soon finds himself entangled in the police investigation surrounding the forger’s demise. Between the bustle of postwar Tangier and the emptiness of the desert, Bacon finds that in Morocco’s international zone, even the fakes can be worth killing for.   “The pacing is good, the bad guys—and gals—are bad, and the integration of art and painting provides a solid framework on which to hang the story.” —Historical Novel Society

The Lambda Literary Award–winning historical mystery series featuring the real-life British painter continues with three prequels set in Europe between the wars.   In this second trilogy that predates the first in Janice Law’s award-winning Francis Bacon series, the Edgar Award–nominated author once again delightfully reimagines the famous and flamboyant Irish-born British painter as an “artist-sleuth . . . unflappable and acidly witty” as he courts danger, solves murders, and navigates international intrigue (Booklist).   Nights in Berlin: In this first prequel, set in 1927, sixteen-year-old Francis is sent by his father to live with his uncle in Berlin as punishment for his flirtations with boys at school. But when Francis arrives, he finds Uncle Lastings welcoming countless men into his hotel room—some for pleasure, others to be recruited for the fight against Bolshevism. 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.   Afternoons in Paris: Escaping Germany, young Francis finds refuge—and inspiration—in the cafés of Paris. But his peaceful life as a budding artist is short-lived when he hears gunshots and sees a Russian émigré cut down by an assassin. To escape murderous Russians, Francis must flee to the countryside and eventually lays low with an avant-garde theater company. When Uncle Lastings appears in Paris up to his old tricks, Francis will find himself once again pulled into a deadly game of international espionage.   Mornings in London: The final volume in Law’s prequel trilogy comes full circle, with Francis returning to England. As much as Francis loves the nightclubs and back alleys of swinging Soho, he’s put aside his distaste for the pastoral life to rescue his favorite cousin, Poppy, a spirited young debutante who’s fallen for one Freddie Bosworth, an accused blackmailer with a love for Mussolini and more than one dark secret. When the cousins find Freddie on the manor grounds with his throat slit, Francis has another murder to solve.

Lambda Literary Award Finalist: A young Irishman finds love and danger in the shadows of Weimar Germany. Francis Bacon has 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’s bed—he’ll fit right in.   The Great War having ended over a decade ago, and its resulting economic turmoil in the past, Germany is enjoying the “Golden Twenties”—a time of healthy fiscal growth, and creative and sexual resurgence, centered in Berlin. Yet dark clouds are gathering as Hitler consolidates power within the Nazi Party and brownshirts march through the streets.   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.   Nights in Berlin is the 4th book in the Francis Bacon Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

Artist Francis Bacon gets tangled up in murder while visiting the English countryside in the final mystery of this Lambda Award–winning series. Francis Bacon awakes in a four-poster bed with a punishing hangover and a naked footman beside him. The setting and company mean he’s in the country, and that spells disaster for an up-and-coming artist whose natural habitat is the nightclubs and back alleys of swinging Soho. But he’s put aside his distaste for the pastoral life for the sake of his favorite cousin, Poppy, a spirited young debutante who’s committed the biggest blunder a deb can make: She’s fallen in love with Freddie Bosworth—and must be rescued at all costs. Bosworth is a cad, an accused blackmailer with a love for Mussolini and dark secrets too terrible to tell. Fortunately, Poppy comes to her senses, breaking the engagement, and Francis thinks their troubles are over. But when the cousins take a walk through the manor grounds the next day, they find a handsome young man in a pin-striped suit lying dead in the grass. Freddie’s throat has been cut, and Francis’s life is on the line. Along his globetrotting adventures—which have taken him everywhere from Tangier to Berlin—Francis has been mixed up with spies, killers, and the misfits of the cities’ underworlds. Now Janice Law, the Edgar Award–nominated author of Afternoons in Paris, continues to imagine the early years of the fascinating Irish-born painter, a notorious bon vivant, in the thrilling last installment of her popular mystery series. Mornings in London is the 6th book in the Francis Bacon Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

During the glory days of the Roaring Twenties, budding artist Francis Bacon heads to Paris to paint, love, and spy. Francis Bacon was having a ball in Berlin—until his uncle Lastings disappeared, leaving Francis alone, broke, and wanted by the German police as well as 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 cafés 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 émigré cut down by an assassin. Francis dashes into the night and flees to the countryside, but it’s too late—the brilliant young painter is in trouble again. And when Uncle Lastings reappears, Francis will find himself back in the thick of a deadly game of international espionage.   Inspired by the decadent youth of real-life legendary painter Francis Bacon, Afternoons in Paris is the latest installment in one of the most unique espionage series to come along in years. Featuring escapades in Berlin, Paris, and London, this trilogy is steeped in the shadowy atmosphere of John Horne Burns’s bestselling The Gallery, one of the first novels to showcase unflinching depictions of gay life during wartime. Afternoons in Paris is the 5th book in the Francis Bacon Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

In colonial Morocco, a painter navigates a conspiracy of forgery, corruption, and murder For Francis, 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 call him in to investigate the forger’s demise. If he refuses, they will throw David in jail, where inmates and the DTs will kill him within the week. Between the bustle of the city and the emptiness of the desert, Francis finds that in Morocco, even the fakes can be worth killing for.  

In postwar France, a gambler finds that surviving his vacation may be a long shot 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. They do what they can to stanch the flow of blood, but the Frenchman dies in the hospital. 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, Madame Renard, on the Riviera. What gambler could resist a trip to Monte Carlo? After handing over the parcel, Bacon learns that Madame Renard is dead—and the striking young woman who accepted the delivery is an imposter. The Riviera may be lovely, but in 1945, its sun-drenched beaches can be just as dark as the back alleys of London.