by R.N.Morris (Author)
St. Petersburg, Winter, 1867 - Two frozen bodies are found in an isolated corner of Petrovsky Park. The first - that of a dwarf - has been packed neatly in a suitcase, a deep wound splitting his skull in two. The second body, of a burly peasant, is hanging from a nearby tree, a bloody axe tucked into his belt. The detective Porfiry Petrovich, in his first murder case since Dostoevsky's "Crime and Punishment", suspects the truth may be more complex than others wish him to believe. His investigation leads him from the squalid tenements, brothels and drinking dens of the city's Haymarket district to an altogether more genteel stratum of society. Atmospheric and tense from its dramatic opening to its shocking climax.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 304
Edition: Main
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Published: 01 Feb 2007
ISBN 10: 0571232051
ISBN 13: 9780571232055
Book Overview: A Gentle Axe is a richly-textured historical crime novel that explores the darkest places of the Russian soul.