The Seacoast of Bohemia
by By Freeling, Nicolas
Category: Fiction , Mystery & Detective , General

There is no ocean in Bohemia: only mountains, lakes, and the cold ghosts of a rage that swept a land, shattered nations and lives, and left behind a landscape of guilt and denial. But for Castang, the former French policeman who now toils in the belly of European Community bureaucracy, the seacoast of Bohemia is a place where the impossible is real, where lies turn to truth, and where answers to a painful riddle will be found.Castang and his Czech-born wife. Vera, are touched by a wealthy woman's plea. Four years before, Madame Rogier's son had been kidnapped. Now she has received a call, and knows without question that the voice on the other end of the line belongs to her son. She is certain of it, even as the police tell her it is impossible. Even as she is told there is nothing anyone can do.Castang is willing to believe her, and to let his detective instincts take over. Discovering that the woman's father is a former SS man who fathered a child in Germany, he is sure that this liaison is tied to the boy's disappearance. Castang and Vera cross out of modern Europe and into the Old World, into the pine forests of Bohemia and the streets of Prague. By the time they have asked their questions, they are given ample and violent warning to leave.Suddenly the case of the missing boy is leading the inspector and his wife back through Bruxelles and north to Copenhagen. Castang, a man with secrets of his own, has become the essential player in a bizarre family reunion - one where the blood ties are tainted with memories of death.