`The Constant Gardener,' by John le Carre; Scribner (492 pages, $28).

Byline: Nancy Pate

Keep your eye on Kenya.

Ever since the Cold War thawed, then melted, John le Carre has had an uncanny knack for setting his masterful novels of intrigue in the world's next hot spots. In 1995's "Our Game," he was in Chechnya before most news anchors could pronounce it, and in 1996's "The Tailor of Panama," he landed in that "Casablanca without heroes" right before the impending handover. His topics are timely, too _ drug smuggling and arms dealing in the Caribbean and Latin America in 1993's "The Night Manager"; money laundering for Russian robber barons in last year's "Single & Single."

And so in "The Constant Gardener" …