The Umbrella Murder: The Hunt for the Cold War's Most Notorious Killer

Hardback Published on: 11/07/2024
Price: £25.00
Free UK delivery on orders over £25
Make and edit your lists in your account
No stock available in any shop.
No stock available in any shop.

Bookseller Reviews

View all
The Umbrella Murder
So outlandish it must be true
If this book were a novel it would feel like on of the less believable James Bond stories. That every word of it is true is proof, if proof were needed, t... READ MORE
Rob at Bromley
The Umbrella Murder
The Hunt for a Killer
Thank you to the publisher for the ARC. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about Ulrik’s experience and life-long commitment to finding and exposing the man ... READ MORE
Lauren at Birmingham
The Umbrella Murder
A real life spy thriller.
In 1978, a man with an umbrella and a foreign accent bumps into Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov as he crosses Waterloo Bridge. Markov feels a sharp pain ... READ MORE
Selena, Guildford
The Umbrella Murder
Stranger than fiction
The truth really is stranger than fiction. This is a meticulously researched dive into the murky world of spies, Cold War politics and murder. With the foc... READ MORE
Olivia at Telford
The Umbrella Murder
One of the best books I've read in a long time
This was so readable I kept forgetting it wasn't fiction. The way the story is told is so engaging - it's almost impossible to put the book down. The incre... READ MORE
Libby Low
The Umbrella Murder
Hunt for a killer
One of the Cold War’s most enduring mysteries, the apparent murder by poisoned umbrella of Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov in London, is revisited by Dan... READ MORE
Richard Hayden in Rye
The Umbrella Murder
True crime meets espionage
A satisfying story of espionage, murder and mystery, with elements so bizarre you know it has to be real. All the ingredients of a Len Deighton or Le Carre... READ MORE
Shoeless Joe Jackson
configDetails.options.our_view_title_text

Following Danish journalist Skotte's attempts to solve the infamous 1978 murder of Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov—poisoned with the tip of an umbrella in broad daylight on Waterloo Bridge—The Umbrella Murder takes you into the darkest corners of Cold War spy games. As fast-paced and thrilling as any Le Carré, as down and dirty as Slow Horses, and as painstakingly researched as the finest espionage studies, this is must-read non-fiction.

Synopsis

September 1978: exiled Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov is murdered in broad daylight on Waterloo Bridge, London with a poison-tipped umbrella. It would become the most infamous unsolved killing of the Cold War.

Many years later, young journalist Ulrik Skotte is approached with explosive new information about a man alleged to be responsible for Markov’s death – a spy code-named Piccadilly who worked for the Bulgarian secret service. This one meeting would launch Skotte into a hunt for the killer lasting more than a quarter of a century, bringing him face-to-face with eccentric conspiracy theorists, a washed-up former dictator, ageing Danish spooks – and, ultimately, with Agent Piccadilly himself.

Drawing on an incredible cache of original documents, interviews and archive material, The Umbrella Murder provides jaw-dropping answers to a question that has persisted for nearly five decades: who killed Georgi Markov? And who has been protecting the assassin ever since?

Publisher information

  • Publisher: Ebury Publishing
  • ISBN: 9780753560167
  • Number of pages: 336
  • Dimensions: 242 x 160 x 31 mm
  • Weight: 558g
  • Languages: English

Customer Reviews