The Mask of Dimitrios

Eric Ambler

Jul 2020 · Penguin Classics · Narrated by Anthony Howell

About this audiobook

Brought to you by Penguin.

English crime novelist Charles Latimer is travelling in Istanbul when he makes the acquaintance of Turkish police inspector Colonel Haki. It is from him that he first hears of the mysterious Dimitrios - an infamous master criminal, long wanted by the law, whose body has just been fished out of the Bosphorus. Fascinated by the story, Latimer decides to retrace Dimitrios' steps across Europe to gather material for a new book. But, as he gradually discovers more about his subject's shadowy history, fascination tips over into obsession. And, in entering Dimitrios' criminal underworld, Latimer realizes that his own life may be on the line.

© Eric Ambler 1939 (P) Penguin Audio 2020

About the author

Eric Ambler (Author)
Eric Ambler (1909-98) was born in London to parents who were part-time entertainers. He studied engineering but left college without taking a degree and became a copywriter in the advertising industry. Between 1937 and 1940, he published his great anti-fascist spy thrillers: Uncommon Danger, Epitaph for a Spy, Cause for Alarm, The Mask of Dimitrios, and Journey into Fear. In 1940, he joined the Royal Artillery and was later transferred to the army film unit. After the war he worked as a screenwriter in England and Hollywood and married his second wife, a leading Hollywood producer. Ambler's post-war novels include Passage of Arms, The Light of Day and A Kind of Anger, and his profound influence on the genre has been acknowledged by writers including Graham Greene, Ian Fleming and John le Carré.

Mark Mazower (Introducer)
Mark Mazower is Ira D. Wallach Professor of History at Columbia University where he directs the Institute for Ideas and Imagination. His previous books include Inside Hitler's Greece, Dark Continent, The Balkans and Salonica, City of Ghosts.