Blood and Rubles

In post-Cold War Moscow, business is booming and crime pays.

Capitalism has come to Russia, and money is raining from the sky. As the trickle of cash turns to a torrent, bureaucrats become oligarchs, and the brutal Russian mafia consolidates its power. In the center of this madness is police inspector Porfiry Rostnikov, a thoughtful detective who is struggling to adjust to life in these turbulent times.

A prominent businessman is kidnapped in broad daylight, minutes after finishing the paperwork to start his latest business venture. Three children, as innocent-looking as they are savage, terrorize a slum. And tax collectors discover a cache of historic Russian treasures dating to before the Revolution, but the trove vanishes overnight. As his country races into the future, the limping policeman will have to run to keep up.

About the Author.

Stuart M. Kaminsky (1934-2009) was one of the most prolific crime fiction authors of the last four decades. Born in Chicago, he spent his youth immersed in pulp fiction and classic cinema - two forms of popular entertainment which he would make his life's work. After college and a stint in the army, Kaminsky wrote film criticism and biographies of the great actors and directors of Hollywood's Golden Age. In 1977, when a planned biography of Charlton Heston fell through, Kaminsky wrote Bullet for a Star, his first Toby Peters novel, beginning a fiction career that would last the rest of his life.

Kaminsky penned twenty-four novels starring the detective, whom he described as "the anti-Philip Marlowe." In 1981's Death of a Dissident, Kaminsky debuted Moscow police detective Porfiry Rostnikov, whose stories were praised for their accurate depiction of Soviet life. His other two series starred Abe Lieberman, a hardened Chicago cop, and Lew Fonseca, a process server. In all, Kaminsky wrote more than sixty novels. He died in St. Louis in 2009.

Review quote.

"Impressive. . . . Kaminsky has staked a claim to a piece of the Russian turf. . . . He captures the Russian scene and characters in rich detail." - The Washington Post Book World.

"Quite simply the best cop to come out of the Soviet Union since Martin Cruz Smith's Arkady Renko in Gorky Park." - The San Francisco Examiner.

"Stuart Kaminsky's Rostnikov novels are among the best mysteries being written." - The San Diego Union-Tribune.

"For anyone with a taste for old Hollywood B-movie mysteries, Edgar winner Kaminsky offers plenty of nostalgic fun . . . The tone is light, the pace brisk, the tongue firmly in cheek." - Publishers Weekly.

"Marvelously entertaining." - Newsday.

"Makes the totally wacky possible . . . Peters [is] an unblemished delight." - Washington Post.

"The Ed McBain of Mother Russia." - Kirkus Reviews.