The Day of Jackal (original 1971; edition 2011)

France, infuriated by Charles de Gaulle's withdrawal from Algeria, had failed in six known attempts to assassinate the General. This book postulates that the seventh, mostly deadly attempt involved a professional killer-for-hire who would be unknown to the French Police. His code name: Jackal. His price: half a million dollars. His demand: total secrecy, even from his employers. Step by painstaking step, we follow the Jackal in his meticulous planning, from the fashioning of a specially made rifle to the devising of his approach to the time and the place where the General is to meet the Jackal's bullet. The only obstacle in his path is a small, diffident, rumpled policeman, who happens to be considered by his boss the best detective in France: Deputy Commissaire Claude Lebel.