If this novel was a handbag it would be a black Chanel - beautifully made, perfect for every occasion and just a little old-fashioned (in a good way). The action begins in 1944 in Nazi-occupied Budapest. Miklos Farkas breaks out of the Jewish ghetto and finds himself in possession of the protocol of the title, the secret outline of the Nazi plans for postwar Europe. Cut to the Budapest of the present day, when Miklos is brutally murdered. Alex, his journalist grandson, sets out to find the murderer and gets tangled in a real peach of a conspiracy. LeBor is a distinguished writer of nonfiction and his first novel shows that he’s just as good at making it up.
The Budapest Protocol by Adam LeBor; Reportage, £11.99; 250pp Buy this book