A Corpse in the Koryo

In a "crackling good mystery novel," a North Korean state detective is drawn into a murder case in a page-turner "that keeps you guessing to the end" ( The Washington Post). Sit on a quiet hillside at dawn among the wildflowers; take a picture of a car coming up a deserted highway from the south. Simple orders for Inspector O, until he realizes they have led him far off his department's turf and into a maelstrom of betrayal. North Korea's leaders are desperate to hunt down and eliminate anyone who knows too much about a series of decades-old kidnappings and murders—and Inspector O discovers too late he has been sent into the chaos. A corpse in Pyongyang's main hotel—the Koryo—pulls Inspector O into a confrontation of bad choices. A blue button on the floor of a hotel closet, an ice blue Finnish lake, and desperate efforts by the North Korean leadership set Inspector O on a journey to the edge of a reality he almost can't survive. A Corpse in the Koryo introduces a perplexing universe seemingly so alien that the rules are an enigma to the reader and even, sometimes, to Inspector O. Former intelligence agent James Church weaves a story with beautifully spare prose and layered descriptions of a country and a people he knows by heart. A chilling portrayal that, in the end, leaves us wondering if what at first seemed unknowable may simply be too familiar for comfort. "An outstanding crime novel." — Library Journal (starred review) "An impressive debut that calls to mind such mystery thrillers as Martin Cruz Smith's Gorky Park." — Publishers Weekly (starred review)