I've been reading the novels of Alan Furst. It's like stepping into a familiar world with people you recognize -- but everything's different. Darker, stranger, much more dangerous than the world we know.

Furst is an American writer who has lived in Europe. He knows the continent -- especially the more remote Eastern regions -- like you know the curves on Highway 128. In his latest paperback Kingdom of Shadows Furst takes readers into Roumanian Transylvania, 1938. Sophisticated, jaded, intelligent Nicholas Morath is on a mission.

The mission is not well defined and is constantly changing, like the politics of prewar Europe. Morath and his powerful, scheming uncle, a diplomat for Hungary, are anti-Hitler and pro-democracy. Beyond that, it's murky.

There are many wonderful scenes in these books -- "On the tenth of March 1938, the night train from Budapest pulled into the Gare du Nord, a little after four in the morning. There were storms in the Ruhr Valley and down through Picardy and the sides of the wagon-lits glistened with rain..."

That's the first few words of Kingdom of Shadows. This historical thriller was written in 2000, but it might have been taken from notes in a hotel room fifty years ago. It reeks atmosphere and comes with a map of Southeastern Europe 1938-1939. You'll need a map to follow the hero.

You meet disenfranchised aristocrats, Argentinian heiresses. You'll experience idylls on the Black Sea, peer at mysterious freighters, cross rivers at midnight, survive attempted assassinations, sit for murky meetings in obscure strip clubs, and so on.

In an attached "Reader's Guide' the publisher quotes Furst: "These are characters in novels, but people like them existed; people like them were courageous people with ordinary lives and, when the moment came, they acted with bravery and determination. I simply make it possible for them to tell their stories."

You can read these books for their smoldering sensuality, or follow the convoluted plot, or both. Either way, you'll be in Alan Furst's world for as long as he wants to keep you there.

In Kingdom of Shadows the story moves between Paris parties, villas in southern France, the forests of Ruthenia, Czech forts in the contested Sudetenland, private gardens in Hungary and hidden courtyards in old Paris. Who is working for whom? Who can you trust? Who will betray, who will falter, who will be brave, who will succeed?

Now that Random House will be publishing Furst's next novel, Blood of Victory in hard cover in September, there is a major push to make this author better known. He already has gone pretty far by word of mouth -- and now he is going to meet a much larger audience.

Furst has the skill and stamina to rise to the top of his particular heap, up there with Le Carre, Eric Ambler and others.

He's been writing and publishing historical spy novels for more than 20 years. In one interview he told CNN, "It is so much my life. I read very little contemporary anything... I don't think I read what other people read."

The material for his stories comes from memoirs, journalism of the time, autobiographies, and novels of the period between the wars. He utilizes newsreels, magazines, films, music, even photo collections. All of this material finds its way into his novels.

If you'd like to read this author you could start with Kingdom of Shadows and continue with Blood of Victory. Working backward, look for paperback editions of Night Soldiers, Dark Star, The Polish Officer, The World at Night, and Red Gold.

The titles alone give me chills.

Aired Friday July 26, 2002 at 8:55 am and Sunday July 28, 2002 at 10:55 am

Orders/Information:

Kingdom of Shadows by Alan Furst $11.95 paperback ISBN 0375758267

Blood of Victory by Alan Furst, to be published in hard cover $24.95 September, 2002. ISBN 0375505741

Alan Furst is mentioned on at least 2,000 Internet pages. You might start with these interesting interviews. The longest one is located here: http://www.identitytheory.com/people/birnbaum9.html and runs to ten printed pages.

Also see the CNN interview, much shorter: http://www.cnn.com/2001/SHOWBIZ/books/12/04/alan.furst/

Crimetime is an interesting British site. You can read another interview there: http://www.crimetime.co.uk/interviews/alanfurst.html