There was nothing in Foster's career as a playwright that would prepare him for covering a political trial in Eastern Europe. But when he is asked by an American newspaper to report on the trial of Yordan Deltchev, the former leader of the People's Party now facing charges of treason, he cannot resist the challenge. After all, his inexperience will be his strength - allowing him to describe the proceedings with a fresh eye.

But he has badly underestimated the world he is about to enter - a world in which naivety and ignorance are extremely dangerous qualities. And when Foster innocently agrees to deliver a letter for Deltchev's daughter, Katerina, he has no idea of the peril that lies ahead . . .

Written in 1951, at the height of the Stalinist show trials in Eastern Europe, Judgment on Deltchev is Eric Ambler's most ambitious and complex novel, described in Twentieth Century Crime and Mystery Writers as 'a seminal work in the history of Cold War fiction'.