A fast-paced mystery where Murder on the Orient Express meets the Tour de France—someone’s killing off cyclists one by one.
There are cyclists willing to die to win a single leg of the Tour, taking suicidal descents at more than 90 kilometers per hour; but I also know there are cyclists willing to kill to win.
Marc Moreau, a professional cyclist with a military past, is part of a top Tour de France team led by his best friend, an American star favored to win this year’s Tour. But the competition takes a dark turn when racers begin to drop out in a series of violent accidents: a mugging that ends in an ankle being crushed, a food poisoning that doesn’t add up, and two cheering spectators who become unexpected obstacles. The teams and their entourages retreat into paranoid lockdown, even as they must continue racing each day. The mountain inclines grow steeper and the accidents turn deadlier: a suspicious suicide, an exploded trailer, a loose wheel at the edge of a cliff. Marc agrees to help the French police with their investigations from the inside and becomes convinced the culprit is a cyclist who wants to win at any cost. But as the victim count rises, the number of potential murderers—and potential champions—dwindles.
Marc begins to have the sickening realization that it’s his own team who has been most favored by the murderer’s actions, and in the final stages of the race, Mark himself emerges as the only cyclist left who could possibly beat his best friend and win the Tour. Who can Marc trust? Who should he protect? What will he pick if he’s asked to choose between justice, loyalty, and glory?
Praise for The Black Jersey
“A deliciously juicy story of suspense in the vein of Agatha Christie.”—Milenio
“[Think] Hercules Poirot, as a cyclist . . . [This is] a novel waiting to be devoured.”—El País
“A fast-paced story that submerges the reader, not only in the intrigue of discovering who the killer is, but also in the adrenaline rush of competition, deadly in itself.”—Todo Literatura
