Customer Reviews

Black Knight in Red Square (Felony & Mayhem Mysteries) (Inspctr Rostnikov)

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It starts out as a not so simple poisoning of four during the Moscow film festival. Not a good thing and it gets worse when Rostnikov determines that one of the victims is an American investigative journalist. Further digging brings in the KGB, an international terrorist brigade and more deaths. And, as expected, Rostnikov and his assistants, work in and around the system to solve the crime(s).

I enjoyed this story a great deal though not as much as the first book - Death of a Dissident. What I like most about the Rostnikov series is how a generic, could happen anywhere, crime story is altered when seen through Soviet eyes. Dissident was a 100% Soviet story and that was part of it's charm. The introduction of a number of international players in this book somehow blurs the distinctiveness of the earlier book.

As the child of a WW2 veteran, I'm also struck by how Rostnikov, also a WW2 vet, has some of the same "Greatest Generation" traits. Somehow this is a group that is both patriotic yet willing to work outside of the system if the system gets in the way of, say, fixing a toilet. Read the book and you'll understand.

Kaminsky is an incredibly prolific writer, but I'd never read anything by him until now. This second book in his long running series starring Russian police inspector Porfiry Rostnikov blurs the line between detective fiction and international spy thriller. What begins as a poisoning case linked to the prestigious Moscow International Film Festival soon ties in to a terrorist plot to set off remote control bombs at Soviet landmarks in Moscow. The result is a book that's partly excellent and partly silly. The silly part is this idea of a fictional international terror cell seeking to destabilize both the U.S. and U.S.S.R. It may be the distance of some twenty years since the book was written, but the whole presentation of their aims is laughable.

However, when Kaminsky sticks to his hero detective and his capable underlings (especially Ivan the Vampire), the book is outstanding. It's a common enough trait of police procedural series that one of the key obstacles the detective faces is his own bureaucracy. This is certainly the case for Rostnikov, however the novelty of the Soviet system keeps the book interesting. Not only the political machinations, but the day to day corruption and seedy underbelly of the socialist capital make the book well worth reading. There's just enough of the private lives of the Soviet cops to round things out nicely. On the whole, an intriguing book despite the laughable villains, and one that'll have me seeking out others in the series.

The late Stuart M. Kaminsky's BLACK KNIGHT IN RED SQUARE is the second installment in his Russian series. Chief Inspector Rostnikov, fresh off his last case and is plunged into a hunt for terrorists who would embarrass the Soviet Union during a major film festival.
He enters a dual of wits with Drozhkin of the KGB who controls Rostnikov's son and wishes to have no fallout leveled at the KGB. This book was nominated for an Edgar Award and a later book of the series, A COLD RED SUNRISE won the Edgar for the best mystery novel published in 1988.
Each book in the series is well worth the reader's time and Kaminsky takes you into life in the Soviet Union with deft strokes.
Nash Black, author of WRITING AS A SMALL BUSINESS.

There's Columbo, there's Maigret, and then there's Inspector Rostnikov. After reading one, you'll compulsively go back to the beginning to get them all in the "correct" order. This second in the series continues the process of developing the characters you will come to love. I am now going back and purchasing the series for my son, who is as addicted as I am, to the stories of the persistant senior Inspector with a brain, a conscience, a Jewish wife, and a bum leg. Equally as compelling as the mysteries and the team of detectives is the evolving background of life and change in Russia from the Cold War to the present.

Before Stuart Kaminsky started getting derivative--and how could he not, with so many novels to his credit?--he wrote about the Soviet Union, before the break-up. This little gem has great characterization, likeable plots,and extremely interesting characters. Rostnikov's world-weary ways are engaging. I miss the Inspector Rostnikov series and hope Kaminsky continues them in some form.

In this the second of the series, our hero, Chief Inspector Porfiry Petrovich not only foils a terrorist cell that is planning to blow up major historical sites in Moscow, stop a gang that has been beating and raping old women; he also manages to win a weight lifting trophy (for people over 50), and most importantly to fix the toilet of his bulgarian upstairs neighbor. The idea that his home has been bugged by the KGB could never scare a man who knows how to use a wrench.

The most interesting thing that happens during this book is that Rostnikov and his wife (who is jewish) decide to emigrate from the Soviet Union. This book was written in 1989 just before the fall of the Berlin Wall and jewish migration was at it's easiest.
But, once they put in their papers, they will probably both loose their jobs and the effect on Josef in the army in unfathomable. How Porfiry handles this problem is in itself worth the time to read this book.

This book is a very suspenseful book. When you first start to read the book you are instintly wraped up in the book. It gives a great information on Russian history, along with the famous buildings in Moscow. This book is about a Chief Inspector named Porfiry Rostnikov would is put on a case that involves 4 men all posined on the same night in the same Moscow hotel. He learns that these murders are done by a darked eyed women who is a terriorst and has many more plans into embarassing Russia. It is up the the Inspector to stop this women before she commits more harm.