Charles Latimer, former lecture of political economy, quits the academic world and becomes a writer of crime fiction, with such titles to his credit as "A Bloody Shovel," "I, Said the Fly," and "Murder's Arms." He does all right as a novelist, and decides one day that he needs a change of scene. Off he goes on vacation to Istanbul, where he meets a Turkish secret policeman, a Col. Haki. Haki contrives some reason to speak to Latimer, then invites him to view a corpse which has recently washed up onto shore from the Bosphorus. As it turns out, the body belongs to one Dimitrios Makropoulous, whose dossier is full of political machinations and other crimes. Latimer is convinced that if he could retrace the steps of Dimitrios, and find out how his body washed up on shore, that he could write his best book yet. Armed with the info provided by Col. Haki, he does his best to find out just who was Dimitrios Makropolous...and enters into a world of intrigue and into the life of a very dangerous individual.
An amazing story, I can definitely recommend it to anyone who is a fan of British crime fiction, or anyone who likes novels set just before WWII. A really good look at how power is brokered, on the backs and lives of others, between the two world wars.
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