The Blood Painting

Taut crime thriller by leading Polish writer, Zygmunt Miloszewski, dramatised for radio by Mark Lawson. War time intrigue and modern politics mesh in a murder mystery.

The complexities and frustrations of the modern Polish legal system are the setting for this bestselling crime novel, featuring long suffering State Prosecutor Szacki who finds himself trapped in a limbo land of half-truths and secrets from post-Communist Poland. Will he prove himself to be a redoubtable seeker of the truth or will he compromise?

Episode 1: The Blood Painting
Szacki is finding small town Poland a little dull but a bizarre murder case soon throws him back into action. The crime scene is littered with grotesque clues suggesting that the murder is mirroring an infamous Jewish blood libel, drawing on historical anti-Semitism.

The writer:
Zygmunt Milosewski is a leading Polish writer. The Teodor Szacki series is hugely popular in Poland and the book series is currently being filmed.

The translator:
Antonia Lloyd Jones is a full time translator of Polish literature. She won the Found in Translation Award 2008 for the English version of The Last Supper by Pawel Huelle and is a committee member of the UK Translators Association.

The dramatist:
Mark Lawson is a well-known writer, critic and journalist.

Warsaw backgrounds - Zofia Morus
Polish language advisor - Antonia Lloyd Jones

Producer/director................Polly Thomas
Sound design.................... Eloise Whitmore
Production coordinator..............Sarah Kenny
Executive producer...............John Dryden

A Naked production for BBC Radio 4.