SPIES OF THE BALKANS PB – ALAN FURST

Salonika, 1940. To the bustle of tavernas and the smell of hashish, a secret war is taking shape. In the backrooms of barbers, envelopes change hands, and in the Club de Salonique the air is thick with whispers. Costa Zannis is the city s dashing chief detective – a man with contacts high and low, in the Balkans and beyond. And as unknown ships and British travel writers trickle through the port, he is a man very much in demand. Having helped defeat Italy in the highlands of Macedonia, Zannis returns to a city holding its breath. Mussolini s forces have retreated – for now – but German sights are fixed firmly on the region. And as the situation in Germany worsens, Zannis becomes involved in an audacious plot – smuggling Jews to Istanbul, through the back door of Europe. The British hear he can penetrate the continent s closed borders, and soon Zannis is embroiled in the resistance, and in a reckless love affair that could jeopardise everything. With a remarkable cast of operatives, SPIES OF THE BALKANS is a brilliant espionage novel from Alan Furst.