The Spider Catchers

CIA analyst Lee Carruthers is drawn into a search for a missing aid worker in Morocco. What she finds is human trafficking, terrorist violence and much more in The Spider Catchers by Marilynn Larew.

Alicia Harmon, director of the Femme Aid Office in Fez, Morocco, has been missing for two weeks. In her most recent report, she wrote that she had found a funny link to terrorist money and she was trying to make the connection when she disappeared. Lee is ordered to Fez to discover what the connection could be.

Using all her local knowledge and her friends, she wanders the streets of Fez trying to gather information, but she is thwarted every step of the way. First by the U.S. Embassy in Rabat, then by a terrorist bomb in Fez. It seems a splinter group called the Pure Warriors of Islam is making inroads in Morocco through brothel violence, slave trafficking and terrorism.

When Lee is perilously close to a bomb explosion, she is more determined than ever to find the link Alicia had discovered. In Alicia apartment she finds death threats telling her "to stop asking questions." Not sure what it is Alicia had discovered or where the connection is, she keep poking and poking, hoping to shake out some news.

Things get crazier and crazier as Lee faces one challenge after another and finally discovers how the terrorists are receiving their money. The Spider Catchers is a terrifying look at how simple fundraising can go astray and how zealots can transform a country from a safe place to live to a hot spot.

Lee Carruthers is a tough character and I look forward to her next adventure.