Who would have guessed that an ancient excavation would end in a modern murder...' Under the pressure of war, heroes arise in unusual places. In Aileen Baron's The Torch of Tangier, the main character is not a brave soldier stolen from his home; on the contrary, she is an archeologist. World War II transformed Lily Sampson's job into a nightmar...

War time Tangier, policed by Franco’s Guardia Civil, thick with many nationalities including Germans and Allies, bitter with the insults of Colonialism, is a dangerous place. Archaeologist Lily Sampson, recruited from her studies in Chicago by the enigmatic Dr. Drury, finds herself in Morocco digging up Neanderthal artifacts at the Cave of Hercules. Quite soon, she’s summoned to help the American Legation with an undercover mission linked to Operation Torch. The target date: November 8, 1942. The mission: to control French Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, squash Rommel, and thrust into Europe’s underbelly. Out in the Atlantic, General Eisenhower will rely on relayed communications. But Lily’s mastery of code is interrupted by murder—not one, but two—which not only imperils her, but Operation Torch itself.

War time Tangier, policed by Franco’s Guardia Civil, thick with many nationalities including Germans and Allies, bitter with the insults of Colonialism, is a dangerous place. Archaeologist Lily Sampson, recruited from her studies in Chicago by the enigmatic Dr. Drury, finds herself in Morocco digging up Neanderthal artifacts at the Cave of Hercules. Quite soon, she’s summoned to help the American Legation with an undercover mission linked to Operation Torch. The target date: November 8, 1942. The mission: to control French Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, squash Rommel, and thrust into Europe’s underbelly. Out in the Atlantic, General Eisenhower will rely on relayed communications. But Lily’s mastery of code is interrupted by murder—not one, but two—which not only imperils her, but Operation Torch itself.

It is 1943 and the world is at war. Archaeologist Lily Sampson has been sent to Trans-Jordan by the OSS, along with Gideon Weil, the famous director of the American School of Archeology in Jerusalem. As part of their survey, they roam the beautiful, silent desert where the indelible presence of Lawrence of Arabia still lingers, and where the ancient Nabateans once ruled an empire from their capital in Petra. But soon Lily and Gideon are stranded in the Wadi Rum, and their Bedouin guide is murdered. Could Gideon be guilty of the crime? Then the pair learns that two oil pipelines run from Iraq through the desert to ports on the Mediterranean: one through Trans-Jordan supplying the Allies, the other through Syria supplying the Nazis. Syrians and Vichy French are raiding across the border, threatening to destroy the Trans-Jordan pipeline. Lily and Gideon’s real mission is to help safeguard the pipeline and to prevent oil from reaching the Nazis. At the same time, Lily uncovers a Nazi plot to kidnap and kill the eight-year-old King Faisal of Iraq. Can Lily and Gideon clear Gideon’s name, protect the Trans-Jordan pipeline, sabotage the Syrian line, and rescue Faisal to prevent the Nazi takeover of Iraq?

Epilogue contains data on U.S. forces and outcome of Invasion of North africa in WWII Operation Torch.Epilogue contains data on Operation Torch, U.S. invasion of North Africa.

When the first member of the staff at a Turkish excavation is murdered and a mosaic floor disappears overnight from her site, archaeologist Tamar Saticoy plunges into a shady world of the antiquities trade in the quest to discover who is responsible for the theft of important artifacts.Tamar traces the mosaic floor to Basel, Switzerland, where the captivating prince of antiquities dealers, Gilberto Dela Barcolo, and his enigmatic friend, Enzio Egidio, charm her. Soon she finds herself enmeshed in a tangle of deceit, theft, and forgery. Battling smoke and mirrors, she discovers that no one is who they seem. Two more members of the excavation staff are killed: her venal colleague Chatham, who has discovered a hoard of Thracian gold in Bulgaria, and Orman who—like Tamar—was following the trail of the stolen mosaic. Unless she can crack this case, Tamar herself may become the next target for murder.