The Man with the Baltic Stare (Inspector O Series #4) » (First Edition)

JAMES CHURCH (pseudonym) is a former Western intelligence officer with decades of experience in Asia.

From the author of the critically acclaimed Inspector O series comes another riveting novel set in the mysterious world of North Korea

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 who has been 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 ‘tis better to be noble or be dead.

Publishers Weekly

Church, the pseudonym of a former U.S. intelligence officer with many years experience in Asia, audaciously sets his fourth North Korean mystery (after 2008's Bamboo and Blood) in 2016, five years after series hero Inspector O was allowed to leave the Ministry of People's Security before retirement age. O received that boon in exchange for a promise to keep mum on secrets about the ruling elite he'd learned from his grandfather. O lives as a virtual recluse for half a decade until a summons to Pyongyang drags him back into the fray. After a series of cryptic encounters, the inspector finally learns that he must go to Macau to solve the murder of a high-priced prostitute, whose corpse was chopped up into pieces. The local authorities suspect the killer to be the young man being groomed to become the new leader of North Korea. Church once again shows an extraordinary ability to bring that enigmatic country to life, a feat made even more impressive by the wholly plausible near-future setting. Satisfied readers will hail Church as the equal of le Carré. (Aug.)