City of Ghosts: A Times 'Thriller of the Year' 2020

'Reminded me of Gorky Park, only I liked this tense, complex thriller even better'JAMES PATTERSON •Shortlisted for the 2021 CWA Gold Dagger and the John Creasey'New Blood'Dagger•'Brilliantly orchestrated and totally engrossing'THE CRIME WRITERS'ASSOCIATION ______Leningrad, Russia, 1951.The shadow of war lingers. Revol Rossel – once a virtuoso violinist with a glittering future – is now a humble state militia cop, forced to investigate desperate crimes in this desperate era.But when five frozen corpses are found neatly arranged between railway lines, Rossel is faced with the most puzzling – and most dangerous – case of his career. His hunt for the truth leads him to the dark heart of Leningrad's musical establishment, and, ultimately, to the highest levels of the Kremlin itself.It's a world he knows intimately. A world where his dreams were shattered.A world where a killer may now be hiding...'A highly assured and entertaining debut... Martin Cruz Smith's Gorky Park [...] may have a true heir'THE TIMES'A worthy successor to Cruz Smith's Arkady Renko... A fine and often moving thriller'FINANCIAL TIMES'Gripping... with historical heft, plenty of twists along the way, and a uniquely ingenious code left behind by our murderer. An excellent start to a new historical crime series'VASEEM KHAN The first in a trilogy, City of Ghosts is set in the Leningrad of 1951 where the shadows of the war and the threats of Stalinism loom large. When five blackened corpses are found neatly arranged between three parallel railway lines, even Revol Rossel - once a Conservatoire-trained violinist, now a humble state militia-cop - is sickened by the gruesome scene. Whether victims of the MGB or a crazed yet methodical killer, these bodies soon lead Rossel back into the dark and ruthless heart of the Soviet classical music establishment, a place where his dreams were shattered and his ghosts barely laid to rest The first in a trilogy set in the Leningrad of 1951 where the shadows of the war and the threats of Stalinism loom large. Five blackened corpses are found neatly arranged between three parallel railway lines – the work of a crazed killer or the MGB?