Framed in Monte Carlo: How I Was Wrongfully Convicted for a Billionaire’s Fiery Death

Maher, who spent eight years in prison for a crime he was later cleared of, makes a dramatic plea for his innocence in this gripping account of the 1999 death of 67-year-old billionaire banker Edmond Safra. Maher, a former Green Beret turned male nurse, worked for Safra at his fortified home in Monaco and was there the night Safra died in a fire along with another nurse. Two attackers stabbed Maher that night, he said at the time; he also describes Safra’s missing bodyguards, the police and firefighters who stood by as the house burned, and Safra’s wife, Lily, who would inherit $300 million. Despite Maher’s claim about the intruders, he was arrested and convicted in Monaco in 2001 for starting the fire that caused the deaths; he was released years later after the trial judge admitted that the court was going to convict him no matter what. But who really killed Safra? Maher suggests that Putin ordered Safra killed “in retaliation for a plot orchestrated by Safra and Russian oligarchs to take control of all of Russia’s assets,” but he raises more questions than he answers. True crime fans, convinced or not of the author’s innocence, will be entertained. [em](June) [/em]