Blood and Rubles

"TERRIFIC . . . EXCEPTIONAL."--Detroit Free PressCrime in post-communist Russia has only gotten worse: rubles are scarce, blood, plentiful. In the eyes of Inspector Porfiry Rostnikov and his metropolitan police team, newfound democracy has unleashed the desperation that pushes people over the edge, and a trio of nasty cases confirms their worst fears.Deputy Inspector Sasha Tkach must find the murderous thieves who have terrorized an impoverished neighborhood. Policewoman Elena Timofeyeva joins the tax police in a raid on a house filled with priceless Czarist treasures--which disappear the following day without a trace. And relentless Inspector Emil Karpo will not rest until he finds the Mafia beasts who killed the only woman he has ever loved in a bloody drive-by shooting--and Karpo intends to punish them his way. . . ."Deeply absorbing, full of character nuance and irony . . . Kaminsky's laconic tone and colorful prose bring [Moscow] and its denizens to life."--The Sunday Herald"Kaminsky excels each time he enters the harshness of post-Cold War Russia."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)