He wasn’t smiling, looked guarded, but I could sense some of the fear had left his eyes, that he was no longer consumed by a terror that could pounce at any moment. He raised his free hand to give a tentative wave to the camera, then the screen went dark.
I watched the clip, over and over, until the café attendant tapped my shoulder and told me I’d run out of time.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
As with my previous Akyl Borubaev novel, A Killing Winter, I owe a great deal to many people, whose continued help and encouragement is already acknowledged there.
To that list must be added:
In Germany: Sebastian Fitzek.
In Kyrgyzstan: Oksana Itikeeva and Umai Sultanova.
In the UAE: Isobel Abulhoul, Annabelle Corton, Baron Elliot, Michael Judd, Yvette Judge, Maryann Miranda, Meerim Morrison, Nyugen Ngoc, and Martin Tyler.
In the UK: Stefanie Bierwerth and her team at Quercus, especially Kathryn Taussig and Matthew Cowdery; Jakob Tanner at Waterstones; Marcus Wilson-Smith, whose Kyrgyz photos are the redeeming feature of my Facebook page (www.facebook.com/tomcallaghanwriter).
As before, I owe huge thanks to Tanja Howarth, friend and agent extraordinaire, and my old pal Simon Peters, for criticism, encouragement, and a killing eye for typos.
My biggest debt, of course, is to everyone who read A Killing Winter, and who I hope will enjoy A Spring Betrayal as well.
All the characters and events in this book are entirely fictitious, and any errors, misinterpretations, or distortions of actual events are mine. Kyrgyzstan is a beautiful country with friendly people, and I hope no one will be put off visiting it by reading what is, after all, a crime novel.
Also by Tom Callaghan
A Killing Winter (Inspector Akyl Borubaev Book 1)
Copyright
© 2016 by Tom Callaghan
Cover photographs © Marcus Wilson-Smith; Jacket design © www.blacksheep-uk.com
First published in the United States by Quercus in 2016
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by reviewers, who may quote brief passages in a review. Scanning, uploading, and electronic distribution of this book or the facilitation of the same without the permission of the publisher is prohibited.
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e-ISBN 978-1-68144-376-8
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Callaghan, Tom, author.
Title: A spring betrayal / Tom Callaghan.
Description: New York : Quercus, 2016. | Series: Akyl Borubaev ; 2
Identifiers: LCCN 2016030130 (print) | LCCN 2016032092 (ebook) | ISBN 9781681443782 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781681443775 (softcover) | ISBN 9781681443768 (ebook) | ISBN 9781681443751 (library ebook)
ISBN 9781681443768 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Police—Kyrgyzstan—Fiction. | Children—Crimes against—Fiction. | Serial murder investigation—Fiction. | Kyrgyzstan—Fiction. | GSAFD: Suspense fiction. | Mystery fiction. | Noir fiction.
Classification: LCC PR6103.A447 S68 2016 (print) | LCC PR6103.A447 (ebook) | DDC 823/.92—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016030130
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, institutions, places, and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons—living or dead—events, or locales is entirely coincidental.