A Shark Out of Water (John Putnam Thatcher Mystery)

At first glance, a banker-as-private eye seems a less than scintillating choice for a mystery novel's hero, but it doesn't take long for Emma Lathen's protagonist, John Putnam Thatcher, to win the reader's heart and mind in Shark Out of Water. Putnam, a Wall Street banker, is in Gdańsk trolling for new investment opportunities when a whistle-blowing member of a European consortium turns up dead. In the course of solving the murder, Putnam also delivers a neat explanation of international finance, which is nearly as fascinating as the crime itself. Money, murder, and an exotic setting--Lathen delivers the goods with style and panache.