François "Frank" LaFlame
The younger son of a vintner, François was born on his family's winery in the south of France. With his older brother Jean set to inherit the business, François was prepared at an early age to become a chef. While he enjoyed cooking, his passions were truly engaged by the chemistry of fermentation, the subtle variations of bacteria in cheese cultures, the influence of heredity on grape vines, and subjects of that sort.
When the Great War struck, François was originally pressed into service as a line cook. Major Pierre Leclerc, a long-time member of the Century Club, noticed his potential, but took no action until their position was hit with chlorine gas by the Germans. LaFlame's quick and clever actions that day led the Major to transfer François to their chemical weapons research laboratories. Near the end of the war, François was deployed to French-occupied Togoland.
His first novel was Frank LaFlame versus the Man-Eaters of Togoland (pictured right.)
Its blurb: A killer lurks in the darkest jungles of Africa, and only Frank LaFlame can stop it from killing again! He must bring the full brilliance of his intense intellect to bear on the vexing puzzle.
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