From back cover: This is the third book starring the wry and melancholy Czech detective - and the one in which history catches up with the sleuth. As he doggedly pursues the truth about Praque's latest murders - like the case of the asphyxiated dancer, or the mystery of the missing bank teller - Boruvka is himself caught in a web of conflict, deceit, and treachery. For this is 1968 - the year of the Prague Spring, the Russian invation, and massive defections to the West. It is a time when Newspeak replaces testimony, justice plays second fiddle to ideology, and some criminals are more equal than others.
As Boruvka stumbles through this political minefield, his life is increasingly compicated by his gnawing conscience, his wrong-headed colleagues, and - as always - his incurable soft spot for women. Finally the conflict becomes too great, and the detective is forced to come to terms with himself - and with the perverted "justice" of the Russian regime - in a startling climax.
As Boruvka stumbles through this political minefield, his life is increasingly compicated by his gnawing conscience, his wrong-headed colleagues, and - as always - his incurable soft spot for women. Finally the conflict becomes too great, and the detective is forced to come to terms with himself - and with the perverted "justice" of the Russian regime - in a startling climax.
