The Iron Sickle [Paperback]

When a U.S. Army Claims officer stationed in South Korea is murdered in grisly fashion the roustabout duo of George Sueño and Ernie Bascom go against orders to track a calculating killer.

Early one rainy morning, the head of the 8th United States Army Claims Office in Seoul, South Korea, is brutally murdered by a Korean man in a trench coat with a small iron sickle hidden in his sleeve. The attack is a complete surprise, carefully planned and clinically executed.  How did this unidentified Korean civilian get onto the tightly controlled US Army base? And why attack the claims officer—is there an unsettled grudge, a claim of damages that was rejected by the US Army?
 
Against orders, CID agents George Sueño and Ernie Bascom start to investigate. Somehow, no one they speak to has been interviewed yet. The 8th Army isn't great at solving cases, but they aren't usuallythisbad, either. George and Ernie begin to suspect that someone doesn’t want the case solved.

Martin Limón proves once again why he is hailed by his peers as one of the greatest military writers of his time.Praise forThe Iron Sickle

2015 Washington State Book Award Finalist
APublishers WeeklyBest Book of 2014

As always, the author vividly contrasts adventures in the seamy side of Seoul’s nightlife with a sensitive appreciation for Korea’s ancient culture.
—The Seattle Times

Limón has a profound ability to depict everyday South Korean civilian life in a police state, where anyone can be taken off the streets and lost to an impersonal bureaucratic machine . . . His vivid portraits of Korea, particularly the Itaewon district where Sueño and Bascom often work black-market duty, are deeply textured, nuanced, intimate. He doesn't just describe the clamor and sweat inside an ex-pat bar crowded with GIs. He drops you onto the barlÓ!