Englishman Paul West is in deep financial merde.

His only way out of debt is to accept a decidedly dodgy job touring America in a Mini, while pretending to be typically British.

Also in the car is Paul's French girlfriend, Alexa, and his American poet friend, Jake, whose main aim in life is to sleep with a woman from every country in the world. Preferably in the back of Paul's Mini.

But as the little car battles from New York to Miami, and then heads west, leg-room turns out to be the least of Paul's troubles. His work is being sabotaged, his tour plans are in tatters and his love life becomes a Franco-American war zone.

And as Paul knows better than anyone, when you mix love and war-merde happens…

Stephen Clarke lives in Paris where he divides his time between writing and not writing.

His first novel, A Year in the Merde, originally became a word-of-mouth hit in Paris in 2004. Since then it has been published all over the world, and earned Stephen a nomination for the British Book Award for Best Newcomer. The follow-up, Merde Actually, went to number one in the Bookseller chart. In 2006, he published his guide to understanding the French, Talk to the Snail, which he divided into ten 'commandments' or chapters that include "Thou Shalt Not Work," "Thou Shalt Not Love Thy Neighbour" and "Thou Shalt Not Be Served."

During his research for Merde Happens, Stephen was interviewed by the American police twice, found one real pistol, was told to "have a good one" 127 times, and became allergic to cranberries.