Man with the Baltic Stare, The Inspector O Novels

A Pyongyang policeman is ordered to make a murder case go away in service of a secret plan to reunite the two Koreas in this “excellent” mystery series (Slate).

Autumn brings unwelcome news to Inspector O: He has been wrenched from retirement and ordered back to Pyongyang for a final assignment. The two Koreas, he learns, are now cooperating—very quietly—to maintain stability in the North. Stability requires that Inspector O lead an investigation into a crime of passion committed by the young man selected as the best possible leader of a transition government. O is instructed to make sure that the case goes away. Remnants of the old regime, foreign powers, rival gangs—all want a piece of the action, and all make it clear that if O values his life, he will not get in their way. O isn’t sure where his loyalties lie—and he doesn’t have much time to figure out whether it’s better to be noble or be dead . . .

Praise for The Man with the Baltic Stare and the Inspector O series

“Each Inspector O novel is a strange new trip through the looking glass.” —Booklist (starred review)

“The likeable Inspector O . . . knows that in North Korea mysteries are never solved, just absorbed into larger mysteries. . . . the scenic details and atmospherics suggest more than a passing acquaintance with the realities of life in North Korea.” —The Economist

“Church once again shows an extraordinary ability to bring that enigmatic country to life . . . Satisfied readers will hail Church as the equal of le Carré.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Like Marlowe and Spade before him, Inspector O navigates the shadows and, every now and then, finds truth in the half-light.” —The Wall Street Journal

“Like nothing else I’ve ever read. . . . Church creates an utterly convincing, internally consistent world of the absurd where orders mean the opposite of what they say and paperwork routinely gets routed to oblivion.” —The Boston Globe