Otello's Oil A Saga of Blood & Oil

Elliot Jones is a cross between Sam Spade and Jack Ryan. He's a no-nonsense Special Agent with the U.S. Diplomatic Security Service who won medals for shooting at the Summer Olympics.

The U.S. Secretary of State is in a loveless marriage. She has invited the Oil Minister of Kuwait to dinner in Georgetown followed by opera at the Kennedy Center. In Act III of Giuseppe Verdi's Otello, a shot is fired, but no one hears a thing. The Minister slumps in his seat. Blood oozes from his chest. The Secretary is only inches away. Was she the target? Was she in love with her guest?

Jones is tasked with leading the investigation. He soon discovers that the Oil Minister was in the crosshairs of a global battle among the super powers for energy.

As a young man Layton was greatly influenced by James Michener's The Drifters. Thus, after graduating from college he traveled the world. A vagabond. He ran with the bulls in Pamplona. He stomped grapes with his feet in Greece. He pulled giant crab pots off the floor of the Bering Sea.

After law school he attended Cambridge University in England where he obtained an advance degree in international law. After Cambridge he moved to Washington, D.C. where he worked in and out of government for over 35 years. During his career he practiced international law all over the world; often representing governments in disputes with other governments before the World Trade Organization in Geneva, Switzerland.

Layton has always been interested in the arts, appearing in two operas at the Kennedy Center as a supernumerary, while also raising three sons.

He and his wife of over 45 years split their time between homes in Florida and the South of France.