I am pleased to welcome Ellis Shuman, author of The Burgas Affair, to Totally Addicted to Reading!
What Inspired Me to Set My Novels in Bulgaria
My crime thriller, The Burgas Affair, is set in Bulgaria and Israel. Why Israel? That setting can be attributed to the fact that I moved to Israel at the age of fifteen with my family and have lived here ever since. But why Bulgaria?
Most readers would probably not be able to locate Bulgaria on a map. I had never been to Bulgaria and knew nothing about the country when my job was relocated to Sofia, the capital, for two years. Bulgaria? Of all places in the world! I didn’t speak Bulgarian and coming from Israel, I wasn’t prepared to face the harsh winters of Eastern Europe.
I arrived in an unseasonably warm January. This is not too bad, I thought. But when my wife joined me three weeks later, she landed in the midst of a fierce snowstorm with sub-zero temperatures. “Why did you bring me here?” she asked me.
The weather warmed and we got settled in our daily routine. We both had jobs in a modern office building and shopped for groceries in a well-stocked supermarket located in a fancy mall. Our apartment was heated and comfortably furnished with all the modern appliances. Our co-workers spoke English so we managed just fine. We had a good Internet connection which enabled us to call our family in Israel whenever we wanted, at no cost.
On the weekends, we began to explore Bulgaria. We walked the streets of Sofia, traveled into the countryside to visit the picturesque villages and ate its tasty cuisine in the restaurants. Bulgaria is blessed with stunning nature—mountains, forests, and sandy Black Sea beaches. We learned about Bulgaria’s rich history, including the story of the militant Thracian tribes that ruled the region before the Romans. In short, we fell in love with the scenery, the culture, and the people.
Nobody knows how special Bulgaria is, I thought. After my job returned me to Israel, I devoted myself to writing about Bulgaria, both fiction and non-fiction. My first novel, Valley of Thracians, was published in 2013. And now, The Burgas Affair. In addition to being a crime thriller, the book introduces readers to both Israel and Bulgaria. I hope you enjoy it!
She’s an Israeli data analyst. He’s a headstrong Bulgarian detective. Together they must track down those responsible for a horrific bombing.
In the wake of a deadly terrorist attack at Burgas Airport in Bulgaria, Israeli and Bulgarian intelligence agencies launch a joint investigation. Detective Boyko Stanchev on the police task force teams up with Ayala Navon, a young Israeli intelligence analyst on her first overseas assignment.
The two must establish whether the terrorists were assisted by a Bulgarian crime organization in laying the groundwork for the attack.
It should be a routine investigation, but shadows of the past keep interfering. Boyko’s interactions with a crime boss pursuing a vendetta against him threaten to throw him off track. Ayala’s pursuit of the terrorists and their accomplices brings up painful memories of a family tragedy. Boyko and Ayala form a shaky alliance, one that evolves into growing cooperation and affection as they desperately race against time to uncover who was behind the Burgas bombing.
The Burgas Affair is a fictional account of the aftermath of a very real terrorist attack. On July 18, 2012, a deadly explosive rocked a tourist bus at Burgas Airport, killing five Israelis and their Bulgarian bus driver. The terrorists responsible for this murderous attack have never been brought
Ellis Shuman is an American-born, Israeli author, travel writer, and book reviewer. Along with his wife, Jodie, he was a founding member of Kibbutz Yahel.
After working for several years in the hotel industry, he today writes and edits online marketing content. In the years 2009 – 2010, his job was relocated to Sofia, Bulgaria.
His writing has appeared in The Times of Israel, The Huffington Post, The Jerusalem Post, Israel Insider, and a wide range of Internet websites. His collection of short stories, The Virtual Kibbutz, was originally published in 2003. His novel Valley of Thracians was published in 2013 and his novel The Burgas Affair was published in 2017. Ellis lives with his wife, children, and grandchildren on Moshav Neve Ilan, outside Jerusalem.
Nadene's addiction to reading began at an early age, when a family friend gifted her a copy of Wuthering Heights. From that moment she was never without a book.She will read anything as long the material is compelling enough to hold her attention. She gained many experiences through the pages of the books she had the opportunity to read.She created this blog to share her love of books with like minded individuals hopes that in sharing reviews of the books read visitors to the blog will discover their next addictive read. When not reading, Nadene enjoys cooking, listening to music and watching television.
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