By Diane Johnson

Penguin

Lulu, a CIA agent is sent to Marrakesh to follow the route of finance for terrorist organisations as money passes through Morocco to more radical Middle Eastern organizations. Her cover, is a good one in that it rekindles an affair she has with Ian Drumm, a wealthy Englishman and resident of Marrakesh who she had previously met in Kosovo.

She is soon installed in his villa, and she meets some interesting personalities including a Poet Laureate, and Suma, a young French-Algerian woman on the run from her father and brother, who she thinks will carry out an 'honour killing'. There is also the spectre of another of Ian's lovers, Gazi Al-Sayad, an American educated Saudi woman who is also trying to get away from her husband. This all ferments tension as Lulu becomes involved in the capture of Suma's brother, who is classified as a terrorist suspect.

The love story is part and parcel of the intruige and waxes and wanes depending on the progress of her investigations, though the remit is never very clear. There are some twists along the way, but the real joy is in how the culture clashes of East and West are played out in the relaxed evening parties etc. There are some characters here who seem to belong to novels of an earlier period, but they are still enjoyable and even though the text can be a bit florid at times it does seem to hit the spot nonetheless.