The Umbrella Murder by Ulrik Skotte review – the tireless pursuit of Agent Piccadilly

The Umbrella Murder by Ulrik Skotte review – the tireless pursuit of Agent Piccadilly

This masterly investigation, spanning 30 years, into the assassination of a cold war dissident, Georgi Markov, in London in 1978 exposes an assassin worthy of James Bond

The killing of a Bulgarian dissident, Georgi Markov, on Waterloo Bridge in September 1978 is a case to clinch the truism that real life is better scripted than fiction. As Markov was crossing the Thames, heading back to BBC headquarters, he bumped into a man with an umbrella and felt a sharp pain in his leg. The man apologised, got in a taxi and disappeared.

Four days later, Markov was dead. Doctors discovered a pinprick irritation on his right thigh. They removed the flesh and found a 1.7mm pellet containing 0.45 mg of ricin, a poison that had almost certainly come from Russia.

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