Kanon began his writing career in 1995 . His first novel , '' Los Alamos '' ( 1997 ) , became a bestseller and received the Edgar Award for Best First Novel in 1998 . Further novels followed , including '' The Prodigal Spy '' , '' The Good German '' and '' Alibi '' . His stories are set in the period between World War II and 1950 , and he has often used a real event , such as the Potsdam Conference or the Manhattan Project , as the background for a murder case . His novels are critically acclaimed , and reviewers from the '' Boston Globe '' and '' The New York Times '' have compared his work with the novels of Graham Greene and John le Carré . A film based on '' The Good German '' was produced in 2006 , directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring George Clooney and Cate Blanchett . '' Istanbul Passage '' is a spy thriller set in that city in 1945 . '' Leaving Berlin '' ( 2015 ) concerns an American expatriate who becomes an unwilling double agent of the American and East German intelligence services during the Berlin Airlift of 1948-1949
Potsdam Conference
Potsdam Conference
Joseph Kanon