Blood and Rubles

by Stuart M. Kaminsky Narrated by John Mclain

Overview

In an era of financial free-for-all in Russia, a Moscow cop deals with rampant crime in a "terrific" and "exceptional" police drama (Detroit Free Press).



It's the mid-nineties, and capitalism and privatization have come to Russia. As the trickle of cash turns to a torrent, bureaucrats become oligarchs, and the brutal Russian mafia is on the rise. Newfound democracy has not reduced the crime rate, and Inspector Porfiry Rostnikov, a forty-year veteran of the Moscow police department, and his colleagues have their hands full.



A prominent businessman is kidnapped in broad daylight. Three children-as innocent looking as they are savage-terrorize a slum. And a house full of Czarist treasures is raided by tax police-only to have every piece vanish the following day.



As criminals at all levels rush to exploit a system in confusion, "Inspector Porfiry Rostnikov is a rarity among policemen: shrewd, utterly incorruptible and destined to survive each complex political shift" (Publishers Weekly, starred review).

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Kaminsky excels each time he enters the harshness of post-Cold War Russia, a politically and socially volatile world where his Inspector Porfiry Rostnikov is a rarity among policeman: shrewd, utterly incorruptible and destined to survive each complex political shift. As in previous Rostnikov works, including the Edgar-winning A Cold Red Sunrise, the inspector's team has several cases to crack-and, as always, Russian society itself is as much an adversary as the assembled criminals. A gang of tattooed Mafia killers stage a shoot-out that claims the life of a prostitute, the only human to break through the robotic exterior of Emil Karpo, Rostnikov's loyal assistant; three young boys are robbing and killing on the streets; a cache of valuable artifacts vanishes; and the ruthless cunning of a wealthy couple is put to the test in the aftermath of a kidnapping attempt. Fortified by his love for weight lifting, Ed McBain novels, Russian plumbing and American pizza, the rotund Rostnikov perseveres, strong as a bull, lame in one leg and quite clearly nobody's fool. (Feb.)

Library Journal

This latest installment in the author's Inspector Rostnikov detective series (e.g., A Fine Red Rain, Audio Reviews, LJ 12/94) includes all the Kaminsky hallmarks: a cold Moscow winter, an unsettled post-Communist economy, multiple crimes to solve, and Rostnikov's loyal team of Emil Karpo, Sasha Tkach, and Elena Timofeyeva. A murder/robbery by three young street boys, a Mafia scheme, and a kidnapped businessman occupy our hero's attention. Repetitious but dramatic classical violin music separates the mostly conversational segments through which each case unfolds. Reader Teck Murdoch does an admirable job of differentiating the characters, but the abridgment doesn't do justice to Kaminsky's characterization or his development of a sense of place. Recommended only where abridgments are popular.-Sandy Glover, West Linn P.L., Ore.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940176392272
Publisher:	HighBridge Company
Publication date:	08/24/2021
Series:	Inspector Porfiry Rostnikov Series , #10
Edition description:	Unabridged

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