by Joseph Kanon
First published 2012
Leon Bauer thought he was just doing small favors for the Allies in wartime Istanbul. The American businessman has been running courier jobs and minor assignments while the neutral city teems with refugees and spies from across Europe and Asia. As the war winds down in 1945 and the espionage networks prepare to leave, Leon accepts what should be a simple final task. Instead, the routine assignment goes wrong and someone dies. Now Leon finds himself trapped in a web of shifting allegiances and moral ambiguity. He tries to save an innocent life but triggers a manhunt through the bazaars, mosques, and crumbling Ottoman mansions of the ancient city. An unexpected romance complicates his situation further. Leon must navigate between competing loyalties while Istanbul itself transforms from wartime haven to Cold War battleground. The calm waters of the Bosphorus hide the same deceptions that surround him at every turn.
Genres: historical-fiction, 20th-century, mystery, thriller, espionage
Vibes: atmospheric, fast-paced, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: moral-ambiguity, shifting-allegiances, unexpected-romance
Setting: Istanbul, Bosphorus
Period: 1945
404 pages · Hardcover · Atria Books