Death in Breslau

Set in 1933, with Germany sliding under Gestapo’s control, Marek Krajewski’s Death in Breslau is a powerful thriller bringing to life this interesting city which 12 years later would pass to Poland and become Wroclaw.

Mutilated bodies of a young woman and her ladies’ maid are found dead on a train. Scorpions writhe in their slashed stomach - a horrifying image that becomes crucial to the investigation. Inspector Eberhard Mock is called in to deal with the case, and is assigned an assistant, Herbert Anwaldt, an orphan.

The investigation leads them deep into the city’s dirty underbelly, where perverted aristocrats cavort with prostitutes, corrupt ministers torture confessions from lowly Jews and Freemasons guard their secrets with blackmail and daggers. As Mock and Anwaldt unravel a mystery of ritual killing that dates back to the time of the Crusades, the elderly Mock and the young, fatherless Anwaldt become close. But the dark, occult aspect of this most macabre of cases might prove too much for Anwaldt’s sanity before a solution is secured.

Krajewski's evocative tale is uncommonly powerful, particularly in the stifling atmosphere he conjures of a city in the grip of the Gestapo. His depiction of the sinister, beautiful, corrupt city of Breslau is not only the vehicle for his dark and gripping stories but a notable literary achievement in itself.

The book is part of Marek Krajewski’s series of thrillers featuring Inspector Mock (the remaining titles are yet to be translated into English). The end of the Communist rule in Poland ushered in a wave of interest in the history of regions which before World War II belonged to Germany, particularly of Wroclaw and Gransk, and produced several outstanding novels describing both the pre-war days and the painful change of identity under the new regime.