Not entirely sure whether volume one of 'The Balkan Trilogy' counts as a book, but volume two (no.193 below) certainly re-introduces the characters afresh, so that’s good enough for me.
Not great writing or characterisation, but fascinating history. Set in Bucharest, which is (I assume still?) the capital of Rumania as World War 2 begins.
It looks from a map as if Bucharest is about 100 miles east of Budapest and Rumania is north of Greece & Turkey, so half European half middle eastern, and caught right in the middle (although perhaps not central enough to be of critical interest) in east European Realpolitik.
Clearly, it has been fought over and colonised by both Russia and Austria, which seems to have disappeared as a European power at the beginning of World War 1.
So we have some expat Brits in Rumania and the rest of Europe is falling into Nazi German hands.
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