Sam Eastland

The year is 1949. In the bombed-out ruins of Cologne, Hanno Dasch is king. Director of the most successful black market operation in post-war Germany, Dasch has kept his clients supplied with goods so extravagant and rare that they were almost impossible to find even at the height of Germany's conquests.Nobody but Dasch, his enigmatic daughter and the war criminal he keeps as his bodyguard know how he does it.None of this has escaped the attention of Allied Intelligence, who face not only the systemic corruption of a country where everything is in short supply, but the growing threat of Stalin's KGB.Fearing that Dasch will soon expand his business to include dealings with Russia, and invite the further meddling of Russian agents in the west, the CIA sets in motion an undercover operation to infiltrate and, ultimately, destroy Dasch's empire. A disgraced American Army officer, Nathan Carter, is recruited to approach Dasch and to ingratiate himself with promises of stolen army supplies. As Carter moves further and further into the labyrinth of Dasch's world, it soon becomes clear that the black market ring has already been compromised, but by someone even more dangerous than the Russians.Carter stumbles upon a counterfeiting ring, with whom Dasch has unwittingly gone into business, which seems to have been created with the sole purpose of destroying the Soviet economy, something it could easily do with the superlative quality of the forged bills it is producing. With Carter caught in the middle, and facing the danger that his cover might be blown at any moment, a race begins between the Russian and American spy agencies to uncover who is responsible, before the situation escalates to war.

April, 1945.East of Berlin, the Red Army stands poised to unleash its final assault upon the ruined capital of Hitler's Thousand Year Reich.To the north, at a lonely outpost near the Baltic sea, German scientists perfect a guidance system for the mighty V2 rocket, which has already caused massive damage to the cities of London and Antwerp. This device, known only by the codename Diamondstream, will allow the rocket to arrive at its target with pin-point accuracy. So devastating is the potential of this newly-mastered technology that Hitler's promise to the German people of a 'miracle weapon' that will turn the tide of the war might actually come true.When a radio message sent to Hitler's Headquarters, heralding the success of Diamondstream, is intercepted by an English listening station, British Intelligence orders one of its last agents operating in Berlin to acquire the plans for the device, Desperate to evacuate their agent from the doomed city before the Red Army swarms through its streets, British Special Operations turns to the Kremlin for help. They ask for one man in particular - Inspector Pekkala.Anxious to acquire the plans for himself, Stalin readily agrees to risk his finest investigator on what appears to be a suicide mission. But when Pekkala learns the reason that the British have singled him out, he knows that he must make the journey, no matter what the outcome might be. The agent he must rescue is the woman he had planned to marry, before the Revolution tore them apart, sending her to Paris as a refugee and Pekkala to a gulag in Siberia.This time, for Pekkala, it is personal.

April 1945 - Inspector Pekkala is in a race against time as he heads to Berlin to capture the plans for a secret weapon that could change the course of the war. "Excellently plotted and paced, with a lively cast, real and fictional." - The London Times (Book of the Month) Berlin Red is the seveneth and final novel in this "gripping series of literary thrillers" (Booklist) by Sam Eastland, the nom de plume of acclaimed novelist and memoirist Paul Watkins. The previous Inspector Pekkala suspense novels published by Opus were Red Iconand The Beast in the Red Forest.

In the midst of the fighting, two Russian soldiers seek refuge in the crypt of a German church. There, clutched in the hands of a skeleton priest, they find The Shepherd; a priceless icon thought to have been destroyed long ago. When news of its discovery reaches Moscow, Stalin calls upon his most trusted investigator, Inspector Pekkala, once a favorite of Tsar and known to all of Russia as The Emerald Eye. To unravel the secret of the icon's past, Pekkala traces its last known whereabouts to a band of self-mutilating radicals known as The Skoptsy, who were hunted to extinction years by the Bolshevik Secret Police. Or so it was believed. As Pekkala soon learns, the last survivors of this brutal sect have clung to life in the shadowy forests of Siberia. With the reappearance of the icon, they have returned to claim the treasure they say belongs to them alone, bringing with them a new and terrible weapon to unleash upon the Russian people. Unless the Emerald Eye can stop them.

A soldier returns from the frontline of battle to report that Pekkala's charred body has been found at the site of an ambush. But Stalin refuses to believe that the indomitable Pekkala is dead.On Stalin's orders, Pekkala's assistant Kirov travels deep into the forests of Western Russia, following a trail of clues to a wilderness where partisans wage a brutal campaign against the Nazi invaders.Unknown to Kirov, he is being led into a trap.A new enemy has emerged from the fog of war, more deadly than any Kirov or Pekkala have ever faced before. Pursuing the legend of a half-human creature, said to roam the landscape of this war within a war, each step brings Kirov closer to the truth about Pekkala's disappearance. Meanwhile, Pekkala's nemesis is also closing in for the kill.

As Hitler's forces smash into Soviet territory, annihilating the Red Army divisions in its path, a lone German scout plane is forced down. Contained within the briefcase of its passenger is the seemingly inconsequential painting of a hyalophoria cecropia, otherwise known as a red moth. Military Intelligence dismisses the picture as insignificant, but in the state of emergency Stalin suspects a German plot. He summons his old adversary, Inspector Pekkala - the elusive Finn who was once Tsar Nicholas II's personal detective - to discover the real significance of this strange wartime cargo. As the storm gathers around them, Pekkala, together with his assistant from the shadowy Bureau of Special Operations, soon find themselves on the path of the most formidable art thieves in history. Those real target is a secret and prized possession of the Romanovs, once considered to be the eighth wonder of the world. But as the Soviet Union crumbles in the face of the advancing cataclysm, and the chaos of war is everywhere, Pekkala realizes that to protect the Tsar's treasure he must break through enemy lines. His desperate mission is to outfox the German invaders, or face the wrath of Stalin himself.

'A damned good thriller.' ????? reader review'Pekkala makes an unusual, captivating hero.' The Times'Eastland writes with punch.' MetroSeptember 1939: the second world war has begun. But as the fighting rages in Poland, Stalin cannot forget his long-held obsession with Tsar Nicholas II's missing treasure. When an informant claiming to know the whereabouts of the man who hid that treasure is knifed to death in Siberia, Stalin demands Inspector Pekkala to solve the murder. But to fulfil his mission, Pekkala must return to Borodok, the notorious Gulag where he was held captive for so many years - and pose as the prisoner he once was. Stalin is pressuring him to find the truth quickly - but will returning to the nightmares of his past prove one challenge too far for Pekkala?READERS LOVE THE INSPECTOR PEKKALA SERIES:'I love these books.' ????? reader review'Like the Jack Reacher of Soviet Russia. He is tough, strong, shrewd, super-honest, intelligent, and doesn't miss a trick.' ????? reader review'Very exciting, pacy narrative. Fascinating and authentic characters. Could not bear to put this book down and all I wanted to do then was read the next in the series.' ????? reader review

Deep in the Russian countryside, a thirty-ton killing machine known officially as T-34 is being developed in total secrecy. Its inventor is a rogue genius whose macabre death is considered an accident only by the innocent. Suspecting assassins everywhere, Stalin brings in his best--if least obedient--detective to solve a murder that's tantamount to treason. Answerable to no one, Inspector Pekkala has the dictator's permission to go anywhere and interrogate anyone. But the closer Pekkala gets to answers, the more questions he uncovers--first and foremost, why is the state's most dreaded female operative, Commissar Major Lysenkova, investigating the case when she's only assigned to internal affairs? In the shadows of one of history's most notorious regimes, Pekkala is on a collision course with not only the Soviet secret police but the USSR's deadliest military secrets. For what he's about to unearth could put Stalin and his Communist state under for good--and bury Pekkala with them.

'An amazing read.' ????? reader review'Eastland writes with punch.' Metro1939, and the world stands on the brink of Armageddon. In the Soviet Union, years of revolution, fear and persecution have left the country ill-equipped to face Nazi Germany. But they do have one hope: the T-34 tank, known to its drivers as the 'red coffin', a 30-ton steel monster designed by the secretive and eccentric Colonel Nagorski. But the design is not yet complete, and when Colonel Nagorski is found murdered, Stalin is convinced that a sinister group of former Tsarists called the White Guild are trying to bring about a German invasion. While Soviet engineers struggle to complete the design of the tank, Inspector Pekkala must track down the White Guild and expose their plans - before they become reality.'A page turner of a book with enough neatly resolved twists and turns to keep any thriller fan happy.' SHOTS magazine'A pacy adventure for those who like their tales told in the John Buchan style, with a shot of vodka downed and a fully loaded Webley at the ready.' Independent on Sunday'The best all-out story out of all the three books (so far) in the series.' ????? reader reviewREADERS LOVE THE INSPECTOR PEKKALA SERIES:'I love these books.' ????? reader review'Like the Jack Reacher of Soviet Russia. He is tough, strong, shrewd, super-honest, intelligent, and doesn't miss a trick.' ????? reader review'Very exciting, pacy narrative. Fascinating and authentic characters. Could not bear to put this book down and all I wanted to do then was read the next in the series.' ????? reader review

Shortly after midnight on July 17, 1918, the imprisoned family of Tsar Nicholas Romanov was awakened and led down to the basement of the Ipatiev house. There they were summarily executed. Their bodies were hidden away, the location a secret of the Soviet state. A decade later, Pekkala, once the most trusted secret agent of the Romanovs, is now Prisoner 4745-P, banished to a forest on the outskirts of humanity. But the state needs Pekkala one last time. His mission: catch the assassins who slaughtered the Romanovs, locate the royal child rumored to be alive, and give Stalin the international coup he craves. Find the bodies, Pekkala is told, and you will find your freedom. In a land of uneasy alliances and lethal treachery, pursuing clues that have eluded everyone, Pekkala is thrust into the past where he once reigned. There he will meet the man who betrayed him and the woman he loved and lost in the fires of rebellion--and uncover a secret so shocking that it will shake to its core the land he loves.

'Terrific . . . Pekkala makes an unusual, captivating hero.' The Times 'A perfect ploy for a thriller.' Independent on Sunday 'Eastland writes with punch.' Metro Inspector Pekkala - known as the Emerald Eye - was the most famous detective in all Russia, and a favourite of the Tsar. Now, like millions of others, he is a prisoner in a Siberian gulag - as good as dead.But then he is summoned by Stalin himself to investigate a crime. His mission: to uncover the men who really killed the Tsar and his family, and to locate the Tsar's treasure. The reward for success will be his freedom and the chance to re-unite with a woman he would have married if the Revolution had not torn them apart. The price of failure: death. Set against the backdrop of Stalin's paranoid and brutal rule, Eye of the Red Tsar introduces a compelling new detective to fans of Robert Harris, David McCloskey and Lee Child. READERS LOVE EYE OF THE RED TSAR:'I love these books.' ????? reader review 'Exciting, thrilling, horrifying... in one word "amazing".' ????? reader review 'Another triumph of attention grabbing suspense.' ????? reader review 'Very exciting, pacy narrative. Fascinating and authentic characters. Could not bear to put this book down and all I wanted to do then was read the next in the series.' ????? reader review