Satisfies on more than one level as a story of investigation and also as a historical novel crammed with sharply individual characters. Andrew Taylor, author of The American BoyIn the heat of the St Petersburg summer of 1868, a doctor s wife and son are found dead, victims of a suspected poisoning. The doctor is arrested, but when further bodies are discovered it sets investigator Porfiry Petrovich on a thrilling and dangerous chase through the dark heart of the city, encountering aristocrats, soldiers, beggars and prostitutes as he hunts down a ruthless and elusive killer. Teems with tsarist spies, would-be revolutionaries and a stifling bureaucracy that frustrates ordinary Russians at every turn. Sunday Times Morris s St Petersburg comes alive in intense imagery. Financial Times