The Maghreb Conspiracy: The third spy story in Croft's Mideast trilogy

Michael Vaux #3

by Roger Croft

Michael Vaux, ex-journalist and occasional MI6 operative, is back. The reluctant hero of The Wayward Spy and Operation Saladin is about to find himself pulled back into the violent world of espionage and counterterrorism. After a high-ranking member of al-Qaeda in the Muslim Maghreb terrorist group expresses a desire to defect, MI6 can't afford to ignore his request. The information he holds could help prevent future terrorist attacks. An envoy is sent from Morocco to negotiate a deal with MI6. But on his return, while under the protection of novice agent Sebastian Micklethwait, the envoy is assassinated en route, and MI6 calls on Vaux to locate and secure the would-be defector. Finding the al-Qaeda operative on the dusty Moroccan streets proves difficult, especially when Micklethwait is abducted outside a Tangier nightclub. Now Vaux has to find both men, with ever-increasing pressure from the home office and uncooperative CIA agents. Vaux's search will culminate in a bloody confrontation—and have repercussions that could place MI6 security in grave peril. A dizzying maze of shifting alliances and constant deceit, nothing is as it seems in The Maghreb Conspiracy.

276 pages, Paperback

First published November 4, 2014

About the author

Roger Croft is a former journalist whose reports and feature articles have appeared in numerous publications including THE ECONOMIST, the SUNDAY TELEGRAPH and the DAILY MAIL in London and in the TORONTO STAR and FINANCIAL POST in CANADA. He worked in Egypt where he freelanced and wrote editorials for the Cairo-based EGYPTIAN GAZETTE.