Doctor Frigo

Dr. Frigo is the nickname of Dr. Ernesto Castillo. His father either died or was assassinated and was a leading figure in the Democratic Socialist Party in St. Paul-les Alizes. With his death, leadership in the party would normally fall to Ernesto.

With that in mind, he's summoned to Commissaire Gillon's office to defend himself and assure the Commissaire that he wants no part in politics.

Segura Rojas, a compatriot of Dr. Castillo's father, and Manuel Villegas, who leads the Mexican group of the party, come to the Island.

Ernesto's mistress, Elizabeth Martens tells him that she believes that the French Secret Service needs a victory and wants to control Villegas.

A CIA agent becomes involved and offers a bribe to Ernesto. He is persuaded that if he really wants to find out what happened to his father, he should pretend to go along with Rojas and Villegas.

Villegas had been in Mexico because he had been exiled there by the junta that overthrew Castillo's father. His health wasn't good and Gillon and the CIA think that if they can get inside information about his health, they will have an advantage.

The story is told with little drama or suspense. It is more in the style of learning the facts from newspaper articles, simply put to the reader to enable the reader to draw their own conclusions. This style reminded me of Graham Green in "The Honorary Conusl."

For a novel written in 1974, it was interesting to see what was accepted as crime literature or mystery novels at the time.