Tarnished Icons

"Rostnikov is quite simply the best cop to come out of the Soviet Union since Martin Cruz Smith's Arkady Renko in Gorky Park." --San Francisco Examiner In the topsy-turvy world of post-communist Russia, Inspector Porfiry Rostnikov's work is never done. Three congregants from a local synagogue, gunned down in the night, are the latest victims in the seemingly systematic execution of Jews in Moscow. But the shocking identity of one of the murdered men leads Rostnikov to suspect that, rather than simple intolerance, a more calculated motive lies behind the slaughter. Meanwhile, the city's women are under siege by The Shy One--a knife-wielding rapist who strikes without being seen. And as the last vestiges of order spin wildly out of control, a rabid antinuclear crusader plans to send a message to the New Russia via an "explosive" special delivery. It's up to Rostnikov and his fellow cops to stop the madness before it stops Russia--for good. . . . "Stuart Kaminsky's Rostnikov novels are among the best mysteries being written." --The San Diego Union