Head Shot by Otho Eskin

Even if you’re a DC homicide cop, getting shot at in your front yard is out of the ordinary. And that’s just chapter 1, page 1. Next day, you and your partner are called to a DC theater where the leading lady goes offstage after her last line and gets shot. Oh, forgot to mention that Detective Marko Zorn used to date the deceased actress back when he was a new-ish NYPD uniform cop and she was a starving artist.

But that’s just a sidelight. For some reason, the State Department has requested Zorn by name to be a part of the security detail for the visiting Prime Minister from Montenegro. Apparently, the request came from the visiting delegation. It’s not as though the Feds don’t have enough people to provide security, but SecState insists, much to Zorn’s chagrin.

The new Prime Minister of Montenegro is a liberal opposition leader who came up through a student protest movement back in the day. She was elected to their version of the House. A coup brought down a neofascist government, but not before the outgoing head of state orchestrated some racial cleansing. The primary ruler and brother fled to Chicago away from the mob bent on revenge.

Zorn has a side gig. He’s on-call for a fixer of sorts. A recent assignment was to find the brothers in Chicago. Just find them. That’s it. But as Zorn learns the atrocities committed, he lets it slip when and where the former dictator would be transiting from shelter to car. A crowd of ex-pats who had lost family arrives, surrounds the prick and beats him to death.

Right before Zorn meets with SecState, his fixer calls him again. Wants to hire him to provide some security to the current PM. Now he’s serving two masters. And he wants to find whoever killed his former paramour.

Two more people connected with the theater killing end up dead. A code clerk at the Montenegro embassy also ends up dead. It’s obvious that somehow, the two circumstances are connected because the MO of each murder is the same. And Zorn’s fixer tells him that one of the world’s most expensive assassins has been hired to kill the PM and Zorn before the end of her state visit. Juggling has become Zorn's middle name what with the two cases, 5 or so victims, local/national/international politics, his 3 bosses, local and foreign security. And this guy doesn't like to carry a weapon.

Eskin’s initial Marko Zorn was Reflecting Pool, a DC-based mystery that I liked a great deal. Zorn gets it done, legally or otherwise. Zorn knows DC and the political scene and Eskin keeps this plot moving with his foot slammed to the accelerator. The story takes place over the week that the Prime Minister is in DC – that’s a lot to squeeze into a week, but Eskin handles the packed calendar like a seasoned pro. Guessing we haven’t seen the last of Marko Zorn. With Zorn around, DC is in safe hands.