My professional writing career began with five novels that traced the history of an unnamed, fictional Eastern European country during its communist period, from 1948 until 1989, one book for each decade. The novels began as crime fiction, morphing gradually into espionage. The titles are, in order of publication:

The Bridge of Sighs
The Confession
36 Yalta Boulevard (The Vienna Assignment in the UK)
Liberation Movements (The Istanbul Variations in the UK)
Victory Square

One common question I get is whether or not I'm planning to return to this particular universe in future books. The short answer is no, because I began the project in 2001 with the plan of writing five novels leading to the revolutions of 1989, and I accomplished that goal. However, some of the characters occasionally nag at me, and I feel a desire to fill in their stories. Brano Sev, for example, makes a brief appearance in The Tourist, and filling in why he ends up there would make an interesting story. Also, I've kicked around ideas for Emil Brod's wife, Lena, and her various secret jobs during the sixties.

When I'm not distracted by other projects (as I probably will be for years to come), I'll probably get back to the series in one way or another.