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T H U R S D A Y

They don’t like him in the south of France, where tourist-besieged locals would prefer the second volume of his travelogue to be renamed Jamais Provence. They don’t like him in the Hamptons, where the New York Times sneers that he keeps to himself in a house bordered by tall shrubs. And they probably aren’t too keen on him in England, his native land, which he abandoned years ago for better weather. Peter Mayle is a man without a country—a contradictory fate for a humorist who ostensibly appreciates good food and good folks, and has whimsy enough to compose the book A Dog’s Life from the point of view of his mutt, Boy. He reads from his new thriller, Anything Considered (in which a British expat tangles with Italian mafiosi over the French truffle trade), at 6 p.m. at the Department of Agriculture’s Jefferson Auditorium, 12th & Independence Ave. SW. $20. For reservations call (202) 357-3030. (NodB)