Novelist Martin Limon brings murder mystery to Korean DMZ in 'The Line'

"The Line" by Martin Limon

By Jon Dunbar

U.S. Army veteran Martin Limon is set to publish "The Line," his 13th novel about Sueno and Bascom, this time sending the two Criminal Investigation Division (CID) agents right up to the demarcation line with North Korea. The plot starts intensely at the Joint Security Area (JSA), as the two are called to investigate a murder victim lying halfway into North Korea. They investigate the crime scene at gunpoint in front of the North Koreans, and are ordered to pull the body back to their side.

The story seems especially apt for 2018, following the inter-Korean peace talks at the same site, as well as last year's violent defection by a North Korean soldier there. But Limon brushes aside any synchronicity.

"There have been so many incidents at the JSA and along the DMZ over the years ― including overt acts of war ― that more occurrences are virtually inevitable," Limon told The Korea Times. "When I started thinking about writing the story that eventually became The Line, I had no idea Donald Trump would become president nor that he would see fit to gratuitously elevate Kim Jong-un to his equal on the world stage."

Limon has been publishing his novels since "Jade Lady Burning" in 1992, and part of the fun in them is reading about how Korea once was. Sueno and Bascom are both hard-drinking hardasses who don't respond to authority well. They spend their free time trolling Itaewon and other sleazy camptowns surrounding U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) bases, and their investigations often lead back to the exact same places. Ernie Bascom is the streetwise sidekick who knows his way around the alleys of Korea's villes, while George Sueno's fluency in Korean makes him the perfect investigator to navigate the cultural maze between Korea and the U.S. military, remaining compassionate at all times to the plight of the Korean people living in the shadow of the USFK.

"George and Ernie are my best buddies. I can't imagine life without them," Limon said, distancing himself from Sherlock Holmes writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who hated his character so much, he tried to kill him.

Martin Limon

Limon's fiction comes from personal experience, with some obvious parallels between his own life and main protagonist Sueno's. As well as sharing a Hispanic heritage, Limon also served in Korea, first arriving in 1968. And he also studied the Korean language, taking night classes at the University of Maryland Far East Division alongside civilian workers and foreign spouses. He claims he earned the most credits in the Korean language for a U.S. soldier at the time.

"Most soldiers weren't interested," he said. "More than once, a superior officer would crinkle his nose and wonder why I was studying that stuff. They thought I was nuts. George Sueno's experiences and opinions on this subject, as you might imagine, are similar to mine."

But Limon and Sueno depart in other ways. Limon describes his military career as "exceedingly undistinguished," coming to Korea on five tours for a total 10 years. Over that time he worked many odd jobs, writing for Stars and Stripes, serving as an artillery gun crew chief, working in military intelligence, managing an NCO club and even earning extra money by learning how to count cards, all of which gave him ample opportunities to experience life up and down the country.

"I was never in the CID but observed them when I had the chance," he said. "People ask if I was an MP. The answer is no but I did run away from them a few times."

"The Line" just like many previous novels offers a B-story where Sueno and Bascom's superiors, in their infinite wisdom, try to pull them off a case and assign them to the black market detail.

Limon recalls in his days, one friend claiming to have cleared $30,000 through the black market. He recalls a mail clerk who was caught fencing antler horn, then court-martialed and dishonorably discharged.

"I was too lazy to black market but I knew other GIs who went at it with gusto," he said.

In his stories he frequently refers to the racism behind a lot of black market regulations, which were designed to discriminate against Korean spouses of U.S. servicemen.

His characters frequently bristle at the black market duty, always desperate to get back to the main case at hand. Even in a DMZ murder case, they have to navigate all sorts of red tape just to investigate their own.

The story draws from U.S. feelings of angst and humiliation over military history in the region, particularly the 1968 capture of the USS Pueblo by North Korea.

"The U.S. compromised what many saw as a basic requirement of national honor in order to obtain the release of the crew of the USS Pueblo. To wit: Signed a false admission of infringing on North Korean territorial waters. I agree with the decision since it was the only way to obtain the release of the surviving crew members but understand the anguish with which it was undertaken," Limon said.

"The North Koreans ruthlessly exploit any opportunity to humiliate the United States. I believe that was their goal during the summit in Singapore: an objective aided and abetted by an American leader completely ignorant of history."

Limon has been writing about his two investigators on the Korean Peninsula for decades now, creating rare foreign fiction set in Korea. But it's easy to imagine if an equally talented fiction writer chose a more appealing location _ prerevolutionary Shanghai, perhaps, or postwar Japan _ Sueno and Bascom may be household names and there might be blockbuster movies about their adventures. But for Limon, the setting of Korea is every bit a part of the formula as his two main characters.

"I cannot imagine the George Sueno and Ernie Bascom stories being set anywhere other than Korea. When it was suggested to me some years ago, and I briefly considered it, I almost became ill," Limon said. "These guys are 8th Army GIs stationed in Seoul during the 1970s _ now and forever."

"The Line" is set to be released on Oct. 23. Visit Soho Press for more information or pre-order from Amazon.