Last of the Pirates

The Comoros are small specks in the Idian Ocean, four volcanic islands known for their beauty and for Ylang-Ylang, an exotic flower whose extract is widely used in French perfumes. For many years they were also the home of Bob Denard, a French mercenary who arrived by way of Katanga, the Congo, the Yemen, Angola, Biafra, Gabon and Benin. Once in the Comoros he overthrew two presidents in three years. In 1989 he too was overthrown and disappeared. In this dramatic book Samantha Weinberg goes in search of Bob Denard. She investigates his past and his role in the assassination of Abdallah, the last president of the Comoros, and in doing so learns about the history of the islands and the effect of mercenary rule on them. This is a quest which takes her across the Comoros and from the Seychelles to South Africa and Paris. It is also a thrilling story of cruelty, beauty, intrigue and murder. (Denard returned from exile in South Africa to France to face charges in connection with a failed coup in Benin. On 5 April 1993 he received a five-year suspended sentence. He now lives in Paris).