A Lion in the Grass

Raymond Hatcher is an old spy with an unusual past. In 1942, he was a precocious young man, just turned eighteen but with a college degree, keen to serve his country. Recruited by the OSS for his intellect and language skills, he was sent to a secret island training facility where he learned his craft from an enigmatic Native American and was dispatched to infiltrate Japanese occupied French Indochina.

After the war, he was a star player in U.S. clandestine services for more than a half a century. Then, forced to retire, he takes up birdwatching from his farmhouse porch, but struggles to come to terms with a loose end from his spy career, his unprofessional desire for revenge against a psychopathic Frenchman.

Set over the course of six decades, A Lion in the Grass documents the despair and hope of a spy who suffers the murder of friends and enjoys the success of mentoring protégés. The story is told through alternative viewpoints of Raymond, his protégés, and the French villain.

The novel digs deeply into questions of love, self-doubt and hatred, all foisted upon Raymond during a career from which, he discovers, it is impossible to retire. An octogenarian at the end, Raymond learns that the Frenchman is planning to kill again. To thwart the Frenchman’s plot, the old spy and his protégés must engage in one last mission.