Christian Schünemann

Jelena Volic

Based on true events, Cornflower Blue is a tense thriller that explores the troubled legacy of the Bosnian War. On the night of the eleventh of July, two elite Serbian soldiers are on sentry duty at the Topcider military camp. The next morning, they are found dead. A military court declares them victims of a ritual suicide, and the investigation is closed. But inconsistencies in the official tribunal draw criminologist Milena Lukin to the case. What did the two guardsmen see on that fateful night, a date marking the anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide? Up against a military complex with a history to hide, Milena soon finds herself in grave danger. Meticulously researched and rich in historical detail, Cornflower Blue is a gripping tale that bravely addresses one of the darkest hours in Europe’s recent history. “An exciting thriller, a story about the worst depths of human nature—but also a clever, nostalgic, loving homage to Belgrade and its inhabitants.”—Der Tagesspiegel, on the German edition

A Case for Milena Lukin

Cornflower Blue

In the Balkans, there is a saying: only where the ground was once soaked with blood will the peony bloom with its full, dizzying red. When a young couple is murdered in their home in Kosovo, police are perplexed: there seems to be no motive. But when Milena Lukin’s uncle realizes that the murdered woman was his first love, his niece decides to investigate. All too soon, she is embroiled in the twisted world of Balkan politics, where the past always weighs heavy on the present, and nowhere more so than in her hometown of Belgrade. Old prejudices and new hatreds, merciless profiteers and mendacious politicians—all come together to try to keep Lukin from finding the truth. A fast-paced, deftly told thriller Peony Red drops readers into the murky Balkan underworld. Fortunately, in Milena Lukin, they have a strong, capable, no-nonsense guide, one whose adventures will always keep the pages turning.

Peony Red

A thrilling crime novel set in Belgrade that dives into Serbia’s troubled history. Jelena Volić and Christian Schünemann’s latest thriller follows a case for criminologist Milena Lukin, the protagonist of their previous novels Cornflower Blue and Peony Red. Set in Belgrade, a city of flux between East and West, Lily White is a complex and riveting new story that once again will take Lukin to the dark heart of Serbia’s past. Bouquets of white lilies are mysteriously laid in a Belgrade street where, years earlier, a small Romani boy was beaten to death by two youths. One of the attackers was apprehended and imprisoned. The other was allowed to flee and, after twenty-five years on the run, he returns to Belgrade to confront his past. Days later, his corpse is found floating in the Danube River. After a cursory investigation, the police declare it to have been suicide and close the case, but the dead man’s lawyer and the criminologist Milena Lukin begin an investigation of their own. They soon stumble upon a clue that leads them into the darkest recesses of Serbian politics and to the root of a murder that shaped the fate of a country.

Christian Schünemann

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