BASIC LAW, the name of Germany’s ‘provisional’ constitution, is an edgy study of Europe after the Wall and a re-united Germany where the sins of the fathers are still visited upon the sons and daughters. At the heart of the novel is the American, Sam Kramer, a dinosaur, the last of the foreign correspondents in an age of 24/7 cable news, a holdout expat in a Europe that is on the verge of unification. He’s a burnt-out case: too many bodies from Belfast to Bosnia; too many wars covered, too little meaning found in it all. He’s got a sinecure now as the Vienna correspondent for the Daily European. Vienna, where nothing happens now that the Cold War is over.
Kramer’s private neutral zone is shattered, however, with the suicide death of Reni Muller, the German political firebrand and Kramer’s former lover. Kramer, long estranged from Reni, has been made executor of her literary estate, except that there is no damning memoir to be found. Kramer suspects Reni was killed by someone who did not want uncomfortable secrets revealed in her tell-all autobiography. His subsequent investigation leads him to old friends and co-conspirators from 1968, to more dead bodies, and to a bloody stand-off with neo-Nazis and ghosts from Germany’s Cold War past. In an odd way, Reni’s death gives Kramer new life, as he struggles for the truth about her memoirs, her demise, and his own past.
Richmond Time-Dispatch
April 25, 2015
Jay Strafford
“A perfect blend of thriller and whodunit, Basic Law provides an absorbing look at a perilous time. A yarn spun with skill and chills, moral absolutes and moral ambiguities, it challenges the reader from first to last page.”
Interview:
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The German Agent, published January, 2015, is an atmospheric novel of suspense, intrigue and love set in Washington D.C. just prior to World War One. On one level it is a story of the bond between the German painter and soldier, Max Volkman, and Catherine Fitzgerald, an American heiress and wife to one of Washington’s most powerful shadow politicians. Their connection spans a decade and two continents, and flies in the face of both convention and personal survival.
On a second level, The German Agent tells the powerful story of one man’s attempt to end the carnage of war. A lone German agent is sent to stop the delivery of the Zimmermann telegram to President Wilson. This telegram is sure to bring the U.S. into the war on the side of England, for it was sent by the German foreign minister, and proposes an unholy alliance between Mexico, Japan and Germany.
The German agent, Max Volkman, who fought in the trenches himself, knows that America’s entry will only prolong the slaughter of innocents. His mission: to kill the British envoy carrying the telegram. But when the path of this Englishman leads to the home of Catherine Fitzgerald, Max Volkman is presented with a terrible choice: loyalty to his comrades in the trenches, or the loss of the one woman he has ever loved.
Kirkus Reviews
“A well-written…espionage thriller.”
Crime Fiction Lover
“This book is centred around one of the most intriguing diplomatic incidents of World War I – the Zimmermann Telegram.”
Interview:
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Ruin
Value, published October, 2013, is “mandatory reading …for fans of WWII mystery fiction,” according to Booklist.
Nuremberg is a dead city. In the aftermath of World War II, two-thirds of its population has fled or is deceased, with thirty thousand bodies turning the ruined industrial center into a massive open grave. Here, the vilest war criminals in history will be tried. But in Nuremberg’s dark streets and back alleys, chaos rules.
“Capt. Nathan Morgan, an NYPD homicide detective, and Chief Insp. Werner Beck, a former German Kripo investigator … make a promising sleuthing pair.” Publishers Weekly
Included in Kirkus Review’s “Last Chance: 10 Criminoous Yarns to Get You Through 2013″
“Ruin Value remains a bold piece of writing and a very pleasing serial killer investigation and thriller. It’s well worth reading.” Thinking about Books
” I could almost taste the fear and dust and decay as I read it. … Definitely a case of right book at the right time!” Col’s Criminal Library
“Perfect for readers of historical crime fiction who like mysteries set in immediate postwar Europe and for readers who might be looking for a new crime writer who can whip up a good plot and keep it going consistently throughout the book… it’s rich in setting and the crime is well plotted.” Crime Segments
“The unlikely duo of Morgan and Beck get the job done despite some friction in their teamwork. The writing is terrific and brings post-war Nuremberg vividly to life. The main characters are interesting and likeable, and the author does a very good job of working with the post-war setting instead of disguising modern characters and attitudes in 1945 attire.” At the Scene of the Crime
“[Ruin Value] ratcheted up the suspense as the killer grew closer to the detectives and the reporter. The time and setting is a reminder that anti-Semitism didn’t miraculously disappear once the war was over. Morgan is Jewish and endures epithets not only from the Germans but from his fellow Americans. Not only war is hell.” Historical Novel Society
Originally published by Penguin/NAL in 1989, I brought this WWII thriller back into print as an e-book, 2012:
Scene of the Crime 
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