Toyshop

Wolfgang is dead. He had been stationed in the UK, a high-flying senior export executive for East Germany's toy manufacturing industry. Now his bosses want his brother Gerhard to replace him in London. It makes little sense to Gerhard, but at least the job offers an opportunity to escape life behind the Iron Curtain.
Working in London under the watchful eyes of the Stasi, Gerhard suspects that his brother was murdered. He digs deeper and joins forces with a young American, Elizabeth Allanton. They seem to share a common desire for the truth about Wolfgang. But their search for the facts behind his death leads them into the clutches of both the East German and British intelligence services.
Once you are caught, can you ever escape?

Originally published just before the Berlin Wall came down the novel provides a bleak picture of the West from a Eastern European perspective in the closing phase of the Cold War.

"Intriguing thriller...buttonholing mix of commerce and killing...narrator's nationality provides an unusual perspective." Guardian
". . . makes London feel as nasty as Greene's Vienna." The Times

Andrew Taylor’s 30-plus novels include the number one bestseller, The American Boy, chosen by The Times as one of the top ten crime novels of the decade; the Roth Trilogy (filmed for TV as Fallen Angel); the Lydmouth Series; The Anatomy of Ghosts, shortlisted for Theakston’s best crime novel of the year; The Scent of Death (winner of Historical Dagger); and The Silent Boy.

His most recent awards are the CWA Diamond Dagger and Sweden’s Martin Beck Award. He is The Spectator’s crime fiction reviewer. Further information: www.andrew-taylor.co.uk and on twitter @andrewjrtaylor.
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