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An environmental disaster has struck Germany^Rs Kiel Canal whena fog causes numerous collisions and oil spills. Due to the accident and the high degree of shipping through the canal, the German government is thinking of taking out a loan to rebuild and widen the canal. The myriad of insurance claims that follow the aftermath and the potential German project are both being handled through the Baltic Area Development Association (BADA). Wall Street, ever interested in a good deal, dispatches John Putnam Thatcher to Gdansk, Poland to learn whether it pays to invest in the canal renovation deal. However, the simple business transaction takes a nasty turn when a BADA official claims to have uncovered fraud within the organization. Immediately after the announcement, the official^Rs battered corpse is found and the murder of his lover shortly follows. The Polish police officer Oblonski turns to Thatcher to help him muddle through the world of international finance to uncover the identity of a fiscal murderer. A SHARK OUT OF WATER is the twenty-third book in the Thatcher series and surprisingly with all of those novels, the current story is a refreshing tale. Thatcher is a great character and the story line is filled with self deprecating irony as Emma Lathen laughs at the slapstick efforts of governments and international corporations capitalization of the former Soviet Union. The who-done-it is well written, but it is the intricate glimpses into the wacky, weird, almost mystical, world of international finance that turns this into another great Thatcher novel. Harriet Klausner
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