BLACK KNIGHT IN RED SQUARE by Stuart Kaminsky: Four dead, poisoned during the Moscow Film Festival. Chief Inspector Porifry Rostnikov must stop the female terrorist who seems determined and capable of making the Russian police look as stupid and vulnerable as those of five other countries in which she has worked. Written in 1984, Rostnikov is quite different from the brooding Arkady Renko of Martin Cruz Smith. More like a John Rebus in Russia.
This one is exciting. The plot is a wild race against time and a criminal genius plot. The action is laced with human pathos. I love the twists and turns, the unexpected, the way Karpo and Rostnikov hand both their superiors and their cases. Poor Tkach! We learn to admire their individuality, but what a team they make!
A police procedural mystery, the second featuring Inspector Porfiry Rostnikov, set in Moscow during the USSR. Read well by Mark Hammer, and interesting to the end.
