"Ned Schmidtke's deep, authoritative voice suits the story. He never gets in
front of the action. Instead, he supports this atmospheric tale with well-paced, even reading
and a few carefully chosen vocal mannerisms for the main characters. A moody, involving
listen."AudioFile

"In this richly drawn detective mystery (first of a projected series), the large cast of secondary
characters is well realized, and the social and physical setting is powerfully drawn."KLIATT

In the volatile and shifting political atmosphere of Eastern Europe after World War II, an inexperienced
homicide detective fresh out of the academy is assigned a homicide that no one wants to solve. Set
in a bombed-out city in an unnamed country formerly occupied by the Germans and now by the
Russians, the story follows Emil Brod as he unravels the threads of the cover-up of a brutal murder,
while supporting his grandparentshis only familyin the equally brutal city.

Olen Steinhauer was raised in Virginia and Texas and attended Emerson College. He was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship that enabled him to live in Romania for ten months and provided the impetus for a lifelong fascination with Eastern Europe. He currently lives in Hungary.

Ned Schmidtke has played leading roles on Broadway, on national tours, and at dozens of regional theaters in the United States and Canada. He currently resides in Los Angeles where he continues to work in theater as well as film and television.