The Hot Country

From the Pulitzer Prize and National Magazine Award-winning Robert Olen Butler comes his very first crime novel, an epic historical tale of war, love, intrigue, and espionage. Christopher Marlowe Cobb, known as “Kit”, is an intrepid American newspaper war correspondent who travels to Mexico in 1914 to report on the country’s civil war, the American invasion of Vera Cruz, and the controversial presidency of Victoriano Huerta, El Chacal (The Jackal). Covering the war in enemy territory and sweltering heat, Cobb falls in love with Luisa, a beautiful young Mexican laundress, who is not as innocent as she seems. While investigating a German ammunition ship docked in the marina, Cobb finds himself fired upon by unknown assailants, then witnesses a priest being shot with marksman-like precision right in the cross the holy man wears around his neck. Cobb employs a young pickpocket to help him find out the identity of the sniper and, more importantly, why important German officials are coming into the city in the middle of the night from the ship at the port. Soon Cobb finds himself wrapped in a web of secrets that could change the fate of myriad world leaders, redefine the destiny of two continents, and end his life at any moment An action-packed chronicle of passion and war, Butler’s powerful crime-fiction debut is a thriller not to be missed, from a writer who is a true master of his craft.