Lie in Darkness (Hardcover)

Petric's assignment to investigate the death of a high police official is meant as proof to the local U.N. officials that the city is still functioning. The well-marked trail -- that the official was on the take and was killed when he demanded too much money -- was meant to lead to a quick report and possibly the arrest of some unfortunate. But they didn't reckon on Sarajevo's last honest detective. Petric's investigation leads him deep into the black market economy where cigarettes function as currency, gasoline is sold in glass liter bottles and where men are not above putting the hurt on police officers asking too many questions.

"Lie in the Dark" is a strong mystery debut by Baltimore Sun journalist Dan Fesperman that rediscovers the morally shaky worlds of Graham Greene and John le Carre on the bomb-shattered streets of Sarajevo. Fesperman covered the war and writes about life in Sarajevo with the confidence and knowledge of a native. But he does more than report on what he saw. "Lie" is a beautifully written, sad elegy to a city in agony, and Petric emerges from the pages as a whole man, with his strong curiosity, an aching need for his family, and imbued with the very real fear that one misstep, either on Sniper Alley or while questioning a witness, could lead to an unmarked grave on a soccer field.

The hero Vlado Petric has the absurd position of being a homicide investigator in a city where death and lawlessness have become the norm. While investigating the killing of a high-ranking official, he struggles against warlord-like black marketeers, renegade generals, ethnic prejudices and the overall dysfunction of his besieged city. It's a fascinating setting for a mystery, and Fesperman uses it well to spin an intrguing tale.

On the downside, the plot is a little too linear, but Fesperman more than makes up for this with a great lead character and evocative prose. And aside from the mystery, we get a worm's-eye, human view of the confusing Bosnian Civil War, which Fesperman covered as a correspondent for the Baltimore Sun.

"Lie in the Dark" is as grim and bleak as noir gets, so any fan of the genre will be sure to enjoy it. Hopefully Fesperman will use this setting again for his next novel.