Chapter 5, 1923 Summary

Latimer contacts Marukakis in Sofia, Bulgaria, and the journalist agrees to give him information about the Stambulisky assassination attempt of 1923 at dinner that night. They meet at Latimer's hotel, and Marukakis brings him to a small restaurant attached to a grocery store. After they have a drink, Marukakis complains that Latimer has lied about wanting the information for a detective story. He asks for the truth. Latimer is reluctant to tell his real reasons because they seem so strange, but he agrees to tell Marukakis his reasons after Marukakis gives him the information.

Marukakis relates the history of the assassination attempt. Stambulisky led the Bulgarian Peasant Agrarian Party and was Prime Minister. His party was filled with internal conflict and self-destructed. In 1923, the Serbian (now Yugoslav) government complained that Bulgarian troops had made raids into their territory. Early in February, the King and...