STASI GAME

East Germany 1982 and a man's body is found buried in concrete at a building site in Dresden's new Gorbitz estate. When People's Police homicide Captain Karin Müller arrives at the scene, she discovers that all the body's identifiable features have been removed, including its fingertips, and all that is visible above ground is the man's arm - reaching out like a grotesque statue. The deeper she digs the more the Stasi begin to hamper Müller's investigations. Soon she realises that this crime is just one part of a clandestine battle between two secret services - the Stasi of East Germany, and Britain's MI6 - to control the truth behind one of the deadliest events of World War Two. The novel brilliantly fictionalises the true story of how Britain's wartime leaders justified the fire-bombing of the German city of Dresden, which many have since condemned as a war crime. A gripping Cold War crime thriller. 377pp, paperback.