“In 1976, for a few short months, my father was the German Democratic Republic’s cultural attaché in Laos. He was an old Asia hand. He knew the region. But he was killed shortly after he arrived and his body was never repatriated. In fact, we know almost nothing about his death. I want you to find out why and how it happened. Who killed him? And I’d like you to find him, if possible. Retrieve his body, in fact.”
Julia Rendel didn’t waste time. The assignment was on the table before she’d given herself a chance to sip her coffee – black, very strong, no sugar. Nor did Maier’s elegant client appear to be perturbed by the fact that half the customers and all the staff in the rather bourgeois but frighteningly trendy Herr Max were twisting their heads to get a better look at her. The detectiv
