The Bridge of Sighs

In this auspicious literary crime debut by Olen Steinhauer, an inexperienced homicide detective struggles amid the lawlessness of a post-WWII Eastern European city. It's 1948, three years after the Russians "Liberated" the nation from German occupation. But the ideals of the Revolution are but memories. Twenty-two-year-old Detective Emil Brod is finally getting his chance to serve his country, investigating murder for the People's Militia. The first victim is a state songwriter, but the facts point to a political motive. Emil wants to investigate further, but his new colleagues in Homicide are suspicious and remain silent. He is on his own in this new dangerous world. The Bridge of Sighs launches a unique series of crime novels featuring an ever-evolving landscape, the politically volatile terrain of Eastern Europe in the second half of the twentieth century.