Excerpt from Winter Work by Dan Fesperman, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

The standoff might have lasted longer if Emil hadn't decided to move things along. He lifted the yellow tape and motioned for Krauss's men to leave. They glanced at one other and then at Krauss, who nodded forlornly.

Emil turned toward Dorn and bowed like a maître d'.

"Your case, Lieutenant."

Krauss belatedly fired back.

"We'll see if you're still smiling when I've finished interrogating you, Grimm."

"Colonel Grimm will answer my questions first, Major Krauss. I'll need to question you as well, of course, since you seem to have been among the first on the scene."

"Don't be an ass!"

"Oh, I plan to be the biggest possible ass. Or a major pain in yours, anyway. You and your men will wait until we've processed the scene. You will then accompany me to headquarters."

But Dorn's new authority had its limits. Krauss whistled, and his men fell into step behind him as he shouldered past the policemen and set off down the path. Dorn, trying to save face, called out after them.

"I will meet you in Bernau."

Krauss answered over his shoulder without breaking stride.

"If you wish to see me, come to my office on Normanenstrasse."

It would have been a fine parting shot if all of them hadn't known the building was padlocked, which raised the question as to where Krauss and his men had come from to begin with. Who had summoned them, and where were they going now? Emil marveled at the strangeness of it all. Not even as a young boy during the horrible years of the war and its bleak aftermath had he ever felt as disoriented as he had in these past few months. Up was down, down was up, and the future was a ledge staring off into fog.

Then he glanced again at poor Lothar, and his sense of baffled wonder gave way to despair. So many years of working together, of sharing drinks and meals, here and in Berlin. Lothar had never exactly been a close friend, but professionally they had trusted each other with their deepest secrets, right to the end. And it was their final collaboration that now gave Emil his greatest cause for worry. Perhaps that, too, was dead.

Dorn's voice jolted him from his reverie.

"What do you know about this, Colonel Grimm? How long have you been here?"

Excerpted from Winter Work by Dan Fesperman. Copyright © 2022 by Dan Fesperman. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.