The Moscow Code: A Foreign Affairs Mystery (A Foreign Affairs Mystery, #2)

by Nick Wilkshire

In Moscow, the truth can be a dangerous commodity.


Ottawa bureaucrat–turned-diplomat Charlie Hillier is back. Having barely survived his first posting in Havana, Charlie is eager to put what he learned there to good use. And it isn’t long before he's thrust into a fresh case — a technical writer from Toronto in a Moscow jail on dubious drug charges. Charlie has barely put a dent in the brick wall that is the Russian legal system when the jailed man turns up dead, the official explanation: suicide. And just when evidence to the contrary is discovered, the body is “accidentally” cremated by the authorities.


Undeterred by bureaucratic stonewalling and determined to help the victim’s sister get to the bottom of her brother’s death, Charlie follows the sparse clues available. But what he uncovers brings them both far too close to powers more dangerous than they could have imagined. Suddenly, getting at the truth is less important than getting out of Russia in one piece.

• ISBN10: 1459737148
• ISBN13: 9781459737143
• Publish Date: 18 January 2018 (first published 11 November 2017)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: CA
• Imprint: Dundurn Group Ltd
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 296
• Language: English

Reviews

[annieb123]

Due to be released 5th Dec, 2017, The Moscow Code is the second installment in the Foreign Affairs Mysteries by Nick Wilkshire from Dundurn Press.

The tag line from the back cover reads, "In Moscow, the truth can be a dangerous commodity".

When Charlie Hillier is seconded to Moscow as a consul for the Canadian embassy, he's happy to have escaped his adventures in Havana and not have to go back to Ottawa, where his ex-wife is involved with another higher ranking government official.

A dinner and after dinner drinks with an old school friend he hasn't seen for over 20 years lands them in the local drunk tank where he meets a fellow Canadian who's being held on vague drug related charges. Charlie promises to look into the case and charges pending against the Canadian man in his role as a consul for the embassy. When the Canadian man dies in custody under mysterious circumstances, Charlie's search for justice and answers leads to a very tangled web of lies, deceit, drugs and corruption.

This book was a lot of fun to read. Charlie's a great character, well developed and charmingly rumpled. He's almost a Canadian James Bond, but more polite and less suave! The supporting characters are well thought out and further the action and plot very well. The dialogue is well written and believable. Even though it's set in the current time period, it reminded me quite a lot of the Travis McGee novels, though McGee is a lot grittier and macho, they both have the same fixation with the truth at all costs, and hang the consequences.

I was engaged with the book from the beginning and the denouement was satisfying. I'm very interested to read about Charlie's further adventures and look forward to his next posting in (I think) Japan.

Four stars, a very light, enjoyable read.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher.