This book is the first installment of the "Vanished! Mystery Series", featuring American couple, Barbara and Sam, in their French village. A mysterious, nail-studded African statuette disappears from a local art exhibition at the same time that a young Senegalese migrant sets out on his hazardous journey to Europe through Al Qaeda infested Mali and Niger. Can Barbara and Sam help him to gain legal residency in France and also aid the beleaguered Ogoni tribe to benefit from a rich oil deposit discovered on their territory in the Niger River Delta?

Based on factual events and historical data, "Vanished! A Valuable African Statue Stolen in Southwest France" takes the reader on a hair-raising odyssey from West Africa to Europe AND a delightful holiday in France. These two very different trajectories are connected by a N'Kisi Kongo figure endowed with magical powers of divination by its people.

Along the way, the author touches with insight and feeling on hot button issues such as illegal migration, terrorist activity and corruption in present day West Africa.