Shut Your Eyes Tight, A Dave Gurney Mystery by John Verdon, Now Available at a Special Price

Omnimystery News is always searching for newly discounted mystery, suspense, thriller and crime novels for our readers to enjoy. Today, we're pleased to present the following title, now available at a special price courtesy of the publisher, Broadway Books …

Shut Your Eyes Tight by John Verdon

A Dave Gurney Mystery (2nd in series)

Publisher: Broadway Books

Price: $1.99 (as of 11/03/2014 at 6:00 PM ET).

  

Important Note: Price(s) verified as of the date and time shown. Price(s) are subject to change at any time. Please confirm the price of the book before purchasing it.

When he was the NYPD's top homicide investigator, Dave Gurney was never comfortable with the label the press gave him: super detective. He was simply a man who, when faced with a puzzle, wanted to know. He was called to the investigative hunt by the presumptuous arrogance of murderers — by their smug belief that they could kill without leaving a trace. There was always a trace, Gurney believed.

Except what if one day there wasn't?

Dave Gurney, a few months past the Mellery case that pulled him out of retirement and then nearly killed him, is trying once again to adjust to his country house's bucolic rhythms when he receives a call about a case so seductively bewildering that the thought of not looking into it seems unimaginable — even if his beloved wife, Madeleine, would rather he do anything but.

The facts of what has occurred are horrible: a blushing bride, newly wed to an eminent psychiatrist and just minutes from hearing her congratulatory toast, is found decapitated, her head apparently severed by a machete. Though police investigators believe that a Mexican gardener killed the young woman in a fit of jealous fury, the victim's mother — a chilly high-society beauty — is having none of it. Reluctantly drawn in, Dave is quickly buffeted by a series of revelations that transform the bizarrely monstrous into the monstrously bizarre.

Underneath it all may exist one of the darkest criminal schemes imaginable. And as Gurney begins deciphering its grotesque outlines, some of his most cherished assumptions about himself are challenged, causing him to stare into an abyss so deep that it threatens to swallow not just him but Madeleine, too.

Desperate to protect Madeleine and bring an end to the madness, Gurney ultimately discovers that the killer has left a trace after all. Unfortunately, the revelation may come too late to save his own life.

— Shut Your Eyes Tight by John Verdon

New This Week: Moonlight Sonata, A Dick Moonlight P.I. Thriller by Vincent Zandri

Omnimystery News is pleased to present a mystery, suspense, or thriller ebook that we recently found by sleuthing (as it were) through new or recently reissued titles from independent publishers during November 2014 and priced $4.99 or less …

Moonlight Sonata by Vincent Zandri

A Dick Moonlight P.I. Thriller (7th in series)

Publisher: Bear Media

Price: $3.99 (as of 11/03/2014 at 5:30 PM ET).

First published in trade paperback in December 2013 by StoneHouse Ink; this is its first appearance as an ebook.

  

Important Note: Price(s) verified as of the date and time shown. Price(s) are subject to change at any time. Please confirm the price of the book before purchasing it.

Sometimes a man who goes missing should stay missing …

When a hotshot literary agent by the name of Suzanne Bonchance lures Richard Moonlight into searching for her missing star client — the boozing, womanizing Roger Walls — the private detective finds himself waist-deep in a whole lot of trouble. But when a sexy, young MFA in Writing student who claims to know Walls comes to his rescue, Moonlight not only becomes smitten with her charm, he also finds himself falling in love with a girl he barely knows.

As the trail for Walls narrows, and the truths about everyone who has ever been involved with Roger Walls are revealed, Moonlight finds himself wanting to run away as fast as his legs will take him. One thing he can't outrun, however, are bullets.

— Moonlight Sonata by Vincent Zandri

Hangman, A Novel of Suspense by Stephan Talty, Now Available at a Special Price

Omnimystery News is always searching for newly discounted mystery, suspense, thriller and crime novels for our readers to enjoy. Today, we're pleased to present the following title, now available at a special price courtesy of the publisher, Ballantine …

Hangman by Stephan Talty

A Novel of Suspense

Publisher: Ballantine

Price: $1.99 (as of 11/03/2014 at 5:00 PM ET).

  

Important Note: Price(s) verified as of the date and time shown. Price(s) are subject to change at any time. Please confirm the price of the book before purchasing it.

Hangman, Hangman, what do you see? Four little girls, as cute as can be.

The eerie schoolyard chant still sends ripples of horror through North Buffalo. Not so long ago, serial killer Marcus Flynn preyed upon the community's teenaged daughters — until he was cornered and shot in the head. But Flynn lived, carrying to prison the nickname "Hangman," along with the secret of his last victim's fate. Homicide cop Abbie Kearney wasn't around during Hangman's reign of terror. She hadn't yet come home to wear her dad's old badge in the tough Irish American stronghold known as "the County." Abbie had never experienced firsthand the horror of Hangman. Until now.

Hangman, Hangman, where do they go? Down on the ground, where the daffodils grow.

A corrections officer lies dead, a prison van stands empty … and somewhere out there, the monster who condemned innocents to death at the end of a rope watches and waits to strike again. Abbie leads a desperate manhunt through a city driven to its knees by fear, matching wits with a predator as brilliant as he is elusive. But as more victims are claimed, a rising tide of secrecy, paranoia, and politics forces her to realize that stepping beyond the law may be the only way to find justice. Because with each passing hour, the stakes grow higher — and Hangman's noose gets tighter.

— Hangman by Stephan Talty

New This Week: Bonfire Night, A Lady Julia Mystery Novella by Deanna Raybourn

Amateur sleuth Lady Julia Grey and her detective husband Nicholas Brisbane face their latest adventure in this fourth in a series of Lady Julia Grey stories set during traditional English holidays.

Bonfire Night by Deanna Raybourn

A Lady Julia Mystery Novella (4th in series)

Publisher: Harlequin MIRA

Price: $1.99 (as of 11/03/2014 at 4:30 PM ET).

  

Important Note: Price(s) verified as of the date and time shown. Price(s) are subject to change at any time. Please confirm the price of the book before purchasing it.

It's the autumn of 1890, and almost a year has passed since — much to their surprise — Lady Julia and Nicholas became parents. Just as the couple begins to adapt, a solicitor arrives with a strange bequest. Nicholas, it seems, has inherited a country house — but only if he and his family are in residence from All Hallows' Eve through Bonfire Night.

Neither Lady Julia nor Nicholas is likely to be put off by local legends of ghosts and witches, and the eerie noises and strange lights that flit from room to room simply intrigue them. Until a new lady's maid disappears, igniting a caper that will have explosive results …

— Bonfire Night by Deanna Raybourn

The Ambitious Card, An Eli Marks Mystery by John Gaspard, Now Available at a Special Price

Omnimystery News is always searching for newly discounted mystery, suspense, thriller and crime novels for our readers to enjoy. Today, we're pleased to present the following title, now available at a special price courtesy of the publisher, Henery Press …

The Ambitious Card by John Gaspard

An Eli Marks Mystery (1st in series)

Publisher: Henery Press

Price: $0.99 (as of 11/03/2014 at 4:00 PM ET).

  

Important Note: Price(s) verified as of the date and time shown. Price(s) are subject to change at any time. Please confirm the price of the book before purchasing it.

The life of a magician isn't all kiddie shows and card tricks. Sometimes it's murder. Especially when magician Eli Marks very publicly debunks a famed psychic, and said psychic ends up dead. The evidence, including a bloody King of Diamonds playing card (one from Eli's own Ambitious Card routine), directs the police right to Eli.

As more psychics are slain, and more King cards rise to the top, Eli can't escape suspicion. Things get really complicated when romance blooms with a beautiful psychic, and Eli discovers she's the next target for murder, and he's scheduled to die with her. Now Eli must use every trick he knows to keep them both alive and reveal the true killer.

— The Ambitious Card by John Gaspard

The Killing of Olga Klimt by R. T. Raichev, New on the Mystery Bookshelf during November 2014

New on the Mystery Bookshelf during November 2014 …

The Killing of Olga Klimt by R. T. Raichev

An Antonia Darcy and Major Hugh Payne, Country House Crime Mystery (9th in series)

Publisher: The Mystery Press

  

To see more new paperback titles scheduled to be published this month, visit The Mystery Bookshelf for November 2014. For new hardcover mysteries, visit New Mysteries where for a list of November 2014 mysteries, novels of suspense, and thrillers is provided.

More about our featured title, below …

Do plots involving exciting murders still work and who exactly is the victim? Antonia Darcy never imagined that taking her young grandson to his first day at school would embroil her in a most baffling case of mistaken identity and murder. Major Payne, on the other hand, believed that it was their destiny. Olga Klimt played a dangerous game with the affections of the men in love with her, though she knew perfectly well there might be a high price to pay …

Among the unlikely murder suspects are a rich young heir to a biscuit fortune, his Aconite-addicted mother, his manservant and the headmistress of a prestigious nursery school. As the questions mount, husband and wife sleuths Antonia Darcy and Major Payne search desperately for answers before the killer strikes again.

— The Killing of Olga Klimt by R. T. Raichev

The Black Stiletto Series by Raymond Benson, Now $2.99 Each for Kindle

Tomorrow, Endings & Beginnings, the fifth and final book in The Black Stiletto series by Raymond Benson is published by Oceanview Publishing, and today you can purchase all five books in the series for Kindle — including pre-ordering the new title — for just $2.99 each.

The series began in 2011 with The Black Stiletto, which introduced
Judy Cooper as the titular character, an (at the time in the late 1950s) unidentified woman who battled Communist spies, took on the Mafia, and preyed on common crooks, someone who exacted punishment on evildoers without mercy. In the present, her son discovers his now Alzheimer-stricken mother's diaries, which details the exploits of the Black Stiletto … and he can only assume that she was the underground heroine of yesteryear. Though filled with doubt and disbelief, when someone with a thirst for revenge enters their lives, it is up to him and his own daughter to protect her.

Books two through four quickly followed — Black & White, Stars & Stripes, and Secrets & Lies — with the fifth, Endings & Beginnings, being the startling, climactic finale to this five-book saga. On Wednesday, we'll be interviewing Raymond Benson. Please join us to hear what he has to say about this exciting series.

The Night Hunter by Caro Ramsay, New in Bookstores during November 2014

Today's featured new hardcover mystery, suspense, or thriller title scheduled to be published during November 2014 is …

The Night Hunter by Caro Ramsay, a Colin Anderson and Freddie Costello Mystery (5th in series)

Publisher: Severn House

      

For a list of more new hardcover titles to be published this month, visit our New Mysteries page for November 2014. For new paperback mysteries, visit The Mystery Bookshelf where a selection of November 2014 mysteries, novels of suspense, and thrillers are shelved.

More about our featured title, below …

Elvie McCulloch's sister Sophie has been missing for 57 days. She went out for a run — and never came home. Several young woman in the area have disappeared in similar circumstances, and Elvie's family fears the worst.

As Elvie is driving to her new job late at night, the naked, emaciated body of a young woman crashes from high above onto an oncoming car. Elvie recognises her as Lorna Lennox, who has been missing for weeks. But why was she up there? Where had she been all this time? And why was she running for her life?Teaming up with retired detective Billy Hopkirk, who has been retained by the mother of one of the missing girls to find her daughter, Elvie determines to find out the truth. But as the pair alternately collaborate with and infuriate investigating police detectives Anderson and Costello, they find themselves up against a terrifying enemy. Someone who has killed before. Someone who will kill again, for pure enjoyment. Someone they call The Night Hunter.

— The Night Hunter by Caro Ramsay

Telemystery: Law & Order, Poirot, and White Collar, New This Week on DVD

Telemystery, your source for one of the most comprehensive listings of crime drama, amateur sleuth, private investigator, mystery and suspense television series, mini-series and made-for-television movies, now available on or coming soon to DVD, Blu-ray disc, or Video-on-Demand, is profiling three series — one with three seasons — from our site being released this week.

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Law & Order
Season Fifteen

In the compelling fifteenth year of Dick Wolf’s iconic series, the Manhattan criminal justice team tries not to let departmental shake-ups impact their abilities to pursue the riveting cases that have shocked the city.

Detective Joe Fontana (Dennis Farina) and ADA Alexandra Borgia (Annie Parisse) bring their expertise to grim crimes regarding fake flu vaccines and con men, while ADA Serena Southerlyn (Elisabeth Röhm) exits after her strong opinions put her at odds with her colleagues in the death of a controversial rap producer.

  

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Law & Order
Season Sixteen

Gripping life-or-death drama. Intelligent dialogue. Ripped-from-the-headlines scenarios. They’re all here in this 16th season of this long-running series.

Annie Parisse and Dennis Farina return for their final season as ADA Alexandra Borgia and Detective Joe Fontana, who take on cases involving a grim sterilization campaign, post-partum psychosis and a death so disturbing to Lieutenant Van Buren (S. Epatha Merkerson) that she flirts with perjury in the name of justice.

      

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Law & Order
Season Seventeen

The storylines remain as compelling as ever, but this seventeenth season of Law & Order brings big changes to the men and women working in New York City’s criminal justice system.

Ed Green (Jesse L. Martin) earns his promotion to Senior Detective, Nina Cassady (Milena Govich) joins the Department for her short tenure as a detective, DA Arthur Branch (Fred Thompson) finishes his time as the District Attorney and Jack McCoy (Sam Waterson) serves his final days in the courtroom before taking on his boss’s position.

      

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Poirot
Series Thirteen

David Suchet portrays the brilliant Belgian sleuth in these final five mysteries of the series.

Lavish productions and pitch-perfect performances from Suchet and an outstanding supporting cast perfectly capture the spirit of Agatha Christie’s beloved crime stories.

The episodes are:

"Elephants Can Remember";
"The Big Four";
"Dead Man’s Folly";
"The Labours of Hercules"; and
"Curtain: Poirot’s Last Case".

    

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White Collar
Season Five

Catch up with television's smartest, sexiest con-man-turned-crime-fighter before the final season!

In Season 5, $1.8 million in gold coins is missing, an elusive precious diamond is about to be found, and Neal Caffrey (Matt Bomer) has a new handler — and a new love interest. But all is fair in love and crime, and the closer Neal gets to the mysterious Rebecca Lowe, the greater the danger for everyone in his life.

The sixth and final (shortened) season of the series begins this Thursday, November 6th, on USA Network.

      

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Visit the Telemystery website to discover more television mystery series currently available on and coming soon to DVD, Blu-ray disc, or video on demand.

Scratched by J. J. Partridge, New on the Mystery Bookshelf during November 2014

New on the Mystery Bookshelf during November 2014 …

Scratched by J. J. Partridge

An Algy Temple Mystery (3rd in series)

Publisher: Koehler Books

  

To see more new paperback titles scheduled to be published this month, visit The Mystery Bookshelf for November 2014. For new hardcover mysteries, visit New Mysteries where for a list of November 2014 mysteries, novels of suspense, and thrillers is provided.

More about our featured title, below …

When Algy Temple, pool player, sleuth and Ivy League university lawyer, investigates the highly suspicious death of a retired university don, his contemporaneous involvement in a high stakes pool tournament in Providence becomes a tiresome, contentious obligation that must be endured. As he delves into the life of the deceased, he unexpectedly finds himself on a path that leads him to Rome, the vendetta-ridden Boot of Italy and into a haunted past of corruption and conspiracy with a linkage to the tournament, gambling, shylocks, and mobsters unexpected even in Providence where old world shadows hang heavy in the air.

Add an abduction, a Ponzi, an outraged Italo-American community locked in a culture war with the University, a hustler's last gambit for recognition, and a fiancé focused on their wedding in two weeks, his investigation becomes a match of wits with a dead man, and a pool wager of life and death.

— Scratched by J. J. Partridge

Death of an Englishman, A Marshal Salvatore Guarnaccia Mystery by Magdalen Nabb, Now Available at a Special Price

Omnimystery News is always searching for newly discounted mystery, suspense, thriller and crime novels for our readers to enjoy. Today, we're pleased to present the following title, now available at a special price courtesy of the publisher, Soho Crime …

Death of an Englishman by Magdalen Nabb

A Marshal Salvatore Guarnaccia Mystery (1st in series)

Publisher: Soho Crime

Price: $1.99 (as of 11/03/2014 at 1:00 PM ET).

  

Important Note: Price(s) verified as of the date and time shown. Price(s) are subject to change at any time. Please confirm the price of the book before purchasing it.

It is just before Christmas and the marshal wants to go South to spend the holiday with his wife and family, but first he must recover from the flu (which has left the Florentine caribinieri short-handed) and also solve a murder. A seemingly respectable retired Englishman, living in a flat on the Via Maggio near the Santa Trinita bridge, was shot in the back during the night. He was well-connected and Scotland Yard has dispatched two officers to "assist" the Italians in solving the crime.

But it is the marshal, a quiet observer, not an intellectual, who manages to figure out what happened, and why.

— Death of an Englishman by Magdalen Nabb

Mystery Godoku Puzzle for November 03, 2014

A new Mystery Godoku Puzzle has been created by the editors of the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books and is now available on our website.

Godoku is similar to Sudoku, but uses letters instead of numbers. To give you a headstart, we provide you a mystery clue to fill in a complete row or column (if you choose to use it!).

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This week's letters and mystery clue:

A B C D E L M R U

Mary Kennedy's mysteries are centered around this group of people (9 letters).

We now have two weeks of our puzzles on one page in PDF format for easier printing. Print this week's puzzle here.

Previous puzzles are stored in the Mystery Godoku Archives.

Enjoy the weekly Mystery Godoku Puzzle from the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, and Thanks for visiting our website!

Enter to Win — The Buried, a Novel of Romantic Suspense by Shelley Coriell

Omnimystery News invites you to Enter to Win a copy of The Buried by Shelley Coriell, courtesy of Grand Central Publishing.

Three (3) winners will receive a copy of …

Title: The Buried
Author: Shelley Coriell
Series: The Apostles Series
Publisher: Forever
Format: Mass Market Paperback
List Price: $8.00

Use the form below to submit your entry. One entry per person; US residents only. Entry period ends Monday, November 10, 2014. (If you cannot see the entry form, use this link.)

Synopsis: Successful, ambitious state prosecutor Grace Courtemanche is at the top of her game. Then she gets a chilling call from a young woman claiming to be buried alive. Desperate to find the victim before it's too late, Grace will do whatever it takes … even if it means excavating the darkest secrets of her own past and turning to the one man she thought she would never see again.

FBI agent Theodore "Hatch" Hatcher is a man without roots-and that's the way he likes it. But when a grisly crime shatters Cyprus Bend, Florida, Hatch is dragged back to the small town-and the one woman-he hoped was in his rearview for good. Forced to confront the wreckage of their love affair, Hatch and Grace may just find that sometimes the deepest wounds leave the most beautiful scars-and that history repeating itself may just be what they need to stop a killer … and save their own hearts.

— The Buried by Shelley Coriell

Please Welcome Author Paul Batista

with Paul Batista

We are delighted to welcome author Paul Batista to Omnimystery News today.

Paul's new thriller is The Borzoi Killings (Astor + Blue Editions; October 2014 trade paperback, audiobook and ebook formats), set in one of the most exclusive resorts in the world. The storyline mixes all the twists of a sensational trial with all the dirty little secrets of the elite Hampton socialite lifestyles — from lavish parties, drugs, and sex, to corruption and dangerous secret cartels.

We asked Paul to tell us a little more about how he came to be writing legal thrillers, and he titles his guest post for us today, "Why Make the Transition from Busy Lawyer to Novelist?"

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Photo provided courtesy of
Paul Batista

Why Make the Transition from Busy Lawyer to Novelist? More basically, why exit from a business with a good regular paycheck to a business where the financial rewards are uncertain? Why exchange a suit for a casual shirt and jeans? I get asked these questions a lot, and they are in fact questions I ask myself.

Let's start with a disclaimer. I haven't entirely abandoned the practice of law. This is work I've done for more than thirty years, and old habits die hard. Besides, I like it. More important is the fact that the legal work I do provides fuel for the novels I write. A criminal case or even a civil lawsuit involves a story, a narrative. Part of the function of a lawyer is to shape the narrative — not to fabricate facts but to tell a story.

Creating fiction, however, does give me a license to do more than just shape the narrative of a case. In writing a novel I have the ability and the incentive to weave imagined events together, to create personalities and personal histories, to generate intrigue and conflict. In practicing law, I'm confined by facts — and those facts can be extremely interesting given the nature of the work I do — but there are no such constraints in writing fiction.

There's another factor. Law is a highly regulated business. No matter how independent you may be as a lawyer, there are people known as judges. They require you to do specific things on their schedule, not on yours. They want you to do things their way, not necessarily yours. They tend to have outsized personalities — wearing a robe can transform a guy or gal who in civilian clothes is demure and shy into a muscled-up action figure. And there are also clients. They get to call you in the middle of the night.

The external controls on fiction-writing are different. Sure, an editor can set "deadlines" but those are more goals and aspirations rather than drop-dead dates. You can be disbarred for missing a judge-imposed deadline if you do that too often. The worst a publisher can do is get mad at you.

But the most important reason for transforming myself into a novelist from a practicing lawyer is the beauty of transformation. The stuff of a novelist's life is different from the stuff of a lawyer's life. Creating novels is a liberating experience; you can let loose your imagination. I find I can have a passion and a drive that, even though I've loved practicing law, I can't completely tap into in a courtroom. You hear commencement speakers constantly delivering to young graduates the trite mandate to "follow your passions." As you move through life and hit the jarring realities of jobs, families and obligations, you can get cynical about those conventional admonitions to follow your passions, live out your dreams, and fulfill your talents.

But those inspirational messages do have meaning, at least for yours truly. Even a lawyer can break out of the constraints of the life he or she has lived. There is something invigorating, even for a seasoned adult, in taking risks and having the courage to give up security and embrace something unknown, strange, exciting — fresh.

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Paul Batista, novelist and television personality, is one of the most widely known trial lawyers in the country. As a trial attorney, he specializes in federal criminal litigation. As a media figure, he is known for his regular appearances as guest legal commentator on a variety of television shows.

Batista is a graduate of Bowdoin College, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and Cornell Law School. He's proud to have served in the United States Army. Paul Batista lives in New York City and Sag Harbor, New York.

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The Borzoi Killings
Paul Batista
A Legal Thriller

When the tenth richest man in the world is brutally murdered along with his prized Borzoi dogs in a luxurious East Hampton beach house, only one man is suspected of committing the crime: Juan Suarez, a handsome, charismatic — and illegal — Mexican immigrant who worked for the victim.

Now, renowned trial lawyer Raquel Rematti must defend the man the media has dubbed, "The Blade of the Hamptons." Not only must she take on one of the wealthiest families in the country, she must protect Suarez and herself from ruthless people bent on lethal revenge, while straddling the dangerous line between concerned involvement and forbidden passion for her client.

        

Death of a Dissident by Stuart M. Kaminsky is Today's Open Road Daily Deal

Omnimystery News is pleased to feature Death of a Dissident by Stuart M. Kaminsky as today's Open Road Daily Deal.

The deal price of $1.99 is valid only for today, Monday, November 03, 2014.

Death of a Dissident by Stuart M. Kaminsky

An Inspector Porfify Rostnikov Mystery

Publisher: Open Road

Price: $1.99 (as of 11/03/2014 at 7:50 AM ET).

  

Important Note: Price(s) verified as of the date and time shown. Price(s) are subject to change at any time. Please confirm the price of the book before purchasing it.

On the eve of a show trial, a Soviet dissident is stabbed through the heart …

On a frigid night in silent Moscow, Aleksander Granovsky paces the floor of his government flat. He has dedicated his life to exposing the brutality of the Russian penal system, and in two days he will be tried for the crime of smuggling essays to the West. Granovsky is drafting a speech to deliver in court when an assassin appears and pierces his heart with the point of a rusty sickle.

The case falls in the lap of Porfiry Rostnikov, a Moscow police inspector whose three decades on the force have made him an expert in navigating the labyrinths of the Soviet bureaucracy. But it will take every ounce of Rostnikov's skill to find the killer and survive the investigation, as every question he asks takes him closer to the heart of the KGB.

— Death of a Dissident by Stuart M. Kaminsky