Elements of Nature

In this story set in Turkey in the Cold War days of the 1970s, Englishman Garry Spencer is tasked by the United Nations with investigating industrial environment problems. The illicit use of a new energy-rich mineral intervenes, together with vindictive disposal of toxic residues. Two brutal murders with sectarian overtones complicate matters. Eastern and Western morals clash in this story, and domestic violence during Spencer's childhood comes into play. The political and economic consequences of exploiting the new element would be disruptive, but the impact on the environment, on natural events, could be catastrophic.