In this book, Ripley continues living quietly on his French estate, Belle Ombre, only obliquely involved in criminal activity.

Tom Ripley meets an American teenager named Billy who is working as a gardener in a Paris exurb.

After spending some time together, he deduces that Billy is actually Frank Pierson, the missing son of a recently deceased American tycoon.

Highsmith sets the novel against the oppressive atmosphere of Cold War Germany, and the hedonism of West Berlin, in particular the gay bar scene.

The 2009 BBC Radio 4 adaptation stars Ian Hart as Ripley, Nicholas Hoult as Frank and Helen Longworth as Heloise.