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The End of the World in Breslau

AN INSPECTOR EBERHARD MOCK INVESTIGATION

Translated by Danusia Stok

Part of Melville International Crime

The second installment in the darkly intelligent series that The Independent called “As noir as they get.”

1927, Breslau, Poland: Two elaborate and sadistic murders are discovered within days of each other. The body of an unknown musician, bound and gagged, is found behind a false wall in a shoemaker’s workshop. The victim had been sealed in alive. Elsewhere in the city, the horrifically mutilated body of a locksmith is found. Next to each victim is a torn-out calendar page, with the day of the death marked in blood. Nothing else seems to connect the cases.

It falls to Criminal Councillor Eberhard Mock to solve the case, the mystery taking him still further into the Breslau underworld he knows only too well. Meanwhile, his hard-drinking nocturnal habits soon threaten his volatile marriage, and prompt some strange behavior from his wife … and before long, Mock and his team will be investigating not only two of the grisliest murders in the city’s history, but the councillor’s own wife.

MAREK KRAJEWSKI was born in Wroclaw (formerly Breslau), Poland, on September 4, 1966. He is the author of five novels in the Breslau series, which have been translated into fourteen languages and won Poland’s top literary and crime prizes. Krajewski is a former lecturer in Classical Studies at the University of Wroclaw.

DANUSIA STOK is the translator of the previous title in the Inspector Mock series, Death in Breslau, as well as The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowsi.

”Darkly atmospheric writing and complex characters draw the reader into a vividly depicted era of modern history.” —Kirkus Reviews

”Fans of Simenon’s stand-alone noirs will find much to like.” —Publishers Weekly

”Krajewski focuses brilliantly on Mock’s psychological dissolution, but he also continues to offer fascinating glimpses of the city … bizarre and insightful.” —ALA Booklist (starred review)

Praise for Death in Breslau

“As noir as they get. This complex and atmospheric thriller will find many fans.” —The Independent

“The city of Breslau is as much a character in this thriller as the parade of gothic loons that inhabit it … Addictive … ” —The Daily Telegraph

“A stylish, intelligent and original addition to the canon.” —The Financial Times

“Krajewski carved out a new niche, Polish noir. And what a neat niche it is: sweaty with decadent aristocrats, fleshy with prostitutes and pimps and corpulent with corpses … a bawdy, black-humoured and a unique police tale.” —RTE Guide

“Rich and idiosyncratic … Atmosphere and piquant period detail saturate the pages, and push these books into the upper echelons of literary crime. Krajewski’s lacerating narrative performs the key function of the skilful novelist: providing an entre into a world far from our own.” —The Independent

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