Early one rainy morning, the head of the US Eighth Army Claims Office in Seoul, South Korea, is brutally murdered by a Korean man in a trench coat carrying a small iron sickle hidden in his sleeve. The attack was a complete surprise, carefully planned and clinically executed. How did this unidentified Korean civilian get into the tightly controlled base? And why attack the claims officer? Is there an unsettled grudge, a claim of damages that was rejected by the Army?

Against orders, CID agents Sergeants George Sue├▒o and Ernie Bascom start investigating. Somehow, each person they speak to has not yet been interviewed. The Eighth Army isn''t great at solving cases, but they aren''t that bad either. As George and Ernie continue their search, they begin to suspect that not everyone wants the case solved.

Twenty years ago Martin Lim├│n published his first mystery featuring Sergeant George Sue├▒o, a young Mexican American army detective stationed on the US Eighth Army base in South Korea in the early 1970s, the heart of the Cold War. George and his investigating partner, the rowdy and short-fused Sergeant Ernie Bascom, are assigned cases in which the Eighth Army has come into conflict with local Korean law enforcement—often incidents in which American soldiers, who are not known for being on their best behavior in their Asian host country, have committed a crime. Sue├▒o''s job is partially to solve crimes but mostly to cover top brass'' backside and make sure the US Army doesn''t look bad. Thoughtful, observant George, who is conversant in Korean, constantly faces difficult choices about whether to follow his orders or his conscience.

After eight critically acclaimed novels comes this collection of Lim├│n''s award-winning short stories featuring sergeants Sue├▒o and Bascom. The stories have been published over the last twenty years in a variety of magazines, mostly in Alfred Hitchcock, but have never before been available in book form. This volume is sure to attract both critical attention and appeal to collectors and is a must-have for literary mystery readers.

Early one rainy morning, the head of the US Eighth Army Claims Office in Seoul, South Korea, is brutally murdered by a Korean man in a trench coat carrying a small iron sickle hidden in his sleeve. The attack was a complete surprise, carefully planned and clinically executed. How did this unidentified Korean civilian get into the tightly controlled base? And why attack the claims officer? Is there an unsettled grudge, a claim of damages that was rejected by the Army?

Against orders, CID agents Sergeants George Sue├▒o and Ernie Bascom start investigating. Somehow, each person they speak to has not yet been interviewed. The Eighth Army isn''t great at solving cases, but they aren''t that bad either. As George and Ernie continue their search, they begin to suspect that not everyone wants the case solved.

Twenty years ago Martin Lim├│n published his first mystery featuring Sergeant George Sue├▒o, a young Mexican American army detective stationed on the US Eighth Army base in South Korea in the early 1970s, the heart of the Cold War. George and his investigating partner, the rowdy and short-fused Sergeant Ernie Bascom, are assigned cases in which the Eighth Army has come into conflict with local Korean law enforcement—often incidents in which American soldiers, who are not known for being on their best behavior in their Asian host country, have committed a crime. Sue├▒o''s job is partially to solve crimes but mostly to cover top brass'' backside and make sure the US Army doesn''t look bad. Thoughtful, observant George, who is conversant in Korean, constantly faces difficult choices about whether to follow his orders or his conscience.

After eight critically acclaimed novels comes this collection of Lim├│n''s award-winning short stories featuring sergeants Sue├▒o and Bascom. The stories have been published over the last twenty years in a variety of magazines, mostly in Alfred Hitchcock, but have never before been available in book form. This volume is sure to attract both critical attention and appeal to collectors and is a must-have for literary mystery readers.