A Coffin For Dimitrios, Ambler - B -

                                               This book was written in 1939 and was recently cited by Alan Furst in a Times interview as an inspiration for his 'Night Soldier' series.  It's rather fun to start to think that, yes, it's a lot like Furst's books, until you realize, it's the other way around.  An Englishman, a writer, meets a Turk of mysterious official responsibilities in Stambul.  He learns of the death of a Dimitrios,  a shifty character of bad reputation. He decides to find out more, perhaps for a book, perhaps out of curiosity. So he begins to look into the story of  Dimitrios. Unknown to him, he is being shadowed. As he wanders the Balkans, we get a lesson on the Turk ethnic cleansing of the Greeks after the Great War, Bulgarian parliamentary politics, Italian - Yugoslav border conflicts, and then it's on to Paris, where he learns of Dimitrios years as drug dealer.  He also ascertains that the body of Dimitrios, found floating in the Bosporus, might actually be one of Dimitrios partners-in-crime. Plot twists in Paris lead to a shoot-out and an awfully good tale for the Englishman to write about. Or, is he writing about something else? If it inspired Alan Furst, that is high praise. And just like Furst's books, this is one of those where you can see and feel the fog surrounding you while you read.