Customer Reviews

A Whisper to the Living (Inspector Rostnikov)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Mystery aficionados lost a star writer in 2009 when Stuart Kaminsky passed away in St. Louis, Missouri. In total, Kaminsky published well over 50 mystery novels, screenplays and biographies of film directors. He was also an Edgar Award winner and received the Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America in 2006.

Since 1977, Kaminsky entertained readers with a variety of protagonists in forums around the world. His first detective was Toby Peters, a 1940s PI whose plots allowed Kaminsky, a film professor, to bring Hollywood celebrities as well as other historical figures of all shapes and sizes into his stories. It didn't take long until other sleuths followed. A native Chicagoan, Kaminsky relocated to Florida just as his character Lew Fonesca leaves the Windy City for Sarasota after the tragic death of his wife. Detective Abe Lieberman, a Chicago police officer, works the neighborhoods and communities as Kaminsky captures in glorious detail the various ethnic groups and neighborhoods of that diverse city. He also moved halfway around the world to introduce readers to Inspector Porfiry Petrovich Rostnikov of the Moscow police.

A WHISPER TO THE LIVING features Rostnikov, the fiercely independent Russian investigator who marches to the beat of his own drum. The novel follows the traditional Kaminsky formula with detectives performing multiple investigations while confronting life's personal trials and tribulations. For Rostnikov, his major case is a serial killer, the "Bitsevsky Maniac," named for the park where he has murdered dozens literally in plain view of the police. The Rostnikov team always receives assignments of hopeless cases that seemingly cannot be solved, and when Rostnikov manages to succeed, the credit is usually taken by others.

The search for the killer comes while Rostnikov prepares for the wedding of his son, Iosef. In addition, other cases merit attention, including the investigation into a prostitution ring that involves murder, political corruption and blackmail. Finally, the Rostnikov team must solve the apparent double murder of a Russian heavyweight boxer's wife and sparring partner. The boxer is the prime suspect, making the politically sensitive case perfect for them.

The formula is classic Kaminsky: multiple cases juggling in the air where the identity of the criminal is not the mystery. It is not the culprit but the manner by which the crime will be solved that engages readers. Whether it was Rostnikov, Fonesca or Lieberman, Kaminsky had the skill and ability to engage readers and mystery lovers.

A WHISPER TO THE LIVING may well be Stuart Kaminsky's final novel. If so, the simple but elegant tales of simple men solving complicated crimes will be missed. Whether Russian or American, the detectives and investigators frequenting Kaminsky's novels for a quarter of a century believed in humanity, justice and law. We will miss them and the man who brought them to life on the pages of classic mysteries.

--- Reviewed by Stuart Shiffman

I am a huge fan of Inspector Rostnikov and I have enjoyed almost all his outings with great delight. How ever, this book, and to a small extent the last one also, was a disappointment.

First, there wasn't much of a story. There were three main threads and none of them was compelling enough. Actually two of them, including the one Rostnikov was working on were bordering on insipid. Serial killer bit could have been a gripping, thriller like thread but Kaminsky just squandered it, I don't know why. And the thread about British journalist and her quest was so bleeding meaningless.

Second, in his recent books , Kaminsky has taken to assigning three (or more) different cases to Rostnikov team. In some of the past books, all the cases were at least supervised by the Inspector Rostnikov's character, but this one was strange. There was no communication between the team. It was like reading three separate crime stories and Rostnikov seemed oblivious of all but his own case.

Third, and this is not just Kaminsky, I have seen it happening to a lot of the series - at some point the series becomes nothing but the chronicle of life of the characters and the author is encouraged to convey more and more about the personal life of the detectives. I am all for some personal glimpses and humanization of characters, but Oh My God, this one was written just as an update on the life of Rostnikov, his cancer striken wife, his son and his fiance Elena (and her aunt), Sasha the sad womanizer and his deaf mother and his wife, Zelach and his dying mother...you get the picture. sort of what Martha Grimes is teetering towards now - I think they (authors) get under pressure to write another addition to the series and are told that the readers would love to know read more about all the charming characters and their quirks they have come to love. And then the author presents a book which has nothing but the personal trivia of characters and exaggerated quirks. FATAL.

Fourth - in this book Kaminsky sort of violates the Chekhov's Gun rule - introduces a character in the story, gives him a whole two page scene - home and family setting - and does nothing with him.

So, verdict - read it only if you are a die hard fan who like the soap operas, would like to know what happens next in the life of Rostnikov and his friends.
I am giving it three stars only because I have basically fallen in love with the one legged detective and can not give him anything less.

Something was off about this novel. It seemed piece meal. I noticed the chapters had titles which in his other works never did. It seemed hurried. when i read the dust jacket and learned of Kaminsky's death ,it jelled .This was a work in progress( almost finished) that some one else put together and/or finished..Sill very much worth the read. Cherish the last of the wieght lifting plumber. I loved Rostnikov et al...........They will be missed.
Long Live Emil Karpo. Arkady rocks!

I happened to start reading this book while visiting my mom, and became so engrossed in the opening chapter that I had to take it home and finish it, promising her I would return it. The characters are interesting but complicated. (I should have written up a character list to help keep them straight.) The plot lines are compelling. I do realize I have come in at the end of a long series. But the understated writing and Moscow setting are intriguing enough that I will probably go back to the beginning of the series and read about this quasi-86 Precinct of Russia.

Russia's Office of Special Investigations Chief Inspector Porfiry Petrovich Rostnikov leads the investigation into who the Bitsevsky Maniac serial killer is. The victims are elderly people murdered by a hammer or similar blunt instrument relentlessly bashing them. Most of the corpses have been found in Bitsevsky Park with a few just outside; hence the media nickname.

Desperate to end the killing spree as over forty people have lost their lives to this psychopath, Rostnikov offers himself up as bait by hanging around the park that has been turned into a graveyard by the predator. At the same time his team struggles to protect a British journalist who wants the cops to stay always while h is investigating Moscow prostitution and the chief's son Iosef works a double homicide in which a popular boxing champ apparently killed his wife and her alleged lover his sparring partner.

Although the audience knows from the beginning the identity of the Maniac, fans will relish Rostnikov's latest police procedural as he dangles himself to catch a horrific prolific killer. That subplot, which is the main thread of A Whisper to Living, pays homage to one of the grandmasters of mystery writing Stuart M. Kaminsky who passed away in October. The other subplots pale in comparisons feeling more like filler. Still fans of a terrific modern day Moscow police procedural will enjoy Rostnikov's apparently final act (see People Who Walk in Darkness and the classic Cold red Sunrise).

Harriet Klausner

Wonderful book, as always. Very hard to accept the fact that there will be no more. It may be a cliche, but I feel a bit like I lost a friend.

I loved this whole series and was so saddened by Kaminsky's death. His characters were bigger than life and I have read the entire series. I loved this book. It was worthy of his immense talent.

Rest in Peace, Stuart, you will be missed

Sadly, this is the last in the Porfiry Rostnikov series as Stuart Kaminsky died last year. It had been almost ten years between MURDER ON THE TRANS-SIBERIAN EXPRESS and last year's PEOPLE WHO WALK IN DARKNESS. That one was much more repetitive than A WHISPER TO THE LIVING, in which Kaminsky is back at the top of his game.

Once more Kaminsky bows to Ed McBain for his police procedural format.
Porfiry is investigating serial killings happening in and around Moscow's Bitsevsky Park. He sits on a park bench, trying to lure the murderer into an approach. Arkady Zelach and Porfiry's son, Iosef, are trying to track down Ivan Medivkin, a giant boxer and a suspect in the murder of his wife and his sparring partner. Sasha Tkach and Elena Timofeyeva, Iosef's fiance, have been assigned to protect Iris Templeton, a British investigative journalist who's been researching Russian prostitution and has become a target of organized crime.

Like McBain, Kaminsky is often more interested in interpersonal relationships than the cases the detectives are working on. Sasha Tkach is still trying to win back his wife who has left him. Zelach, a slouch of a man with no discernible detective talents, has paranormal powers he`s learning to use on the job; Elena and Iosef are planning a wedding, and Porfiry's wife has a brain tumor that doesn't seem to want to go away. There's also a forensic scientist named Paulinin with deplorable personal habits who talks to the dead, and Colonel "The Yak" Yaklovev, Porfiry's boss in the special investigations unit, who does everything with political advancement in mind; yet, he protects Porfiry and his team because he knows where his bread is buttered.

Porfiry Rostnikov is one of the most likable detectives in crime fiction.. He's got a prosthetic leg that gives him almost as much trouble as his withered former appendage; he helps his neighbors in his Stalin-era apartment building with their plumbling, and he lifts weights. He also loves kids. He strikes up a relationship with eleven-year-old Yuri Platkov while sitting on a park bench waiting for the "Maniac" to strike. The boy is wary at first, but he can always outrun a man with a bad leg. It doesn't take long before they become friends. Not old man and boy, but equals. Porfiry never condescends.

In addition to the Rostnikov series, Kaminsky also authored the Abe Lieberman mysteries, the Lew Fonesca mysteries, and the Toby Peters mysteries about Hollywood, as well as a couple of Rockford File novels, but it was for the Rostnikov novel, A COLD RED SUNRISE, that he won Best Novel Edgar in 1989. Like Zelach, this guy was no slouch.

A Whisper to the Living, by Stuart M. Kaminsky (256 pgs., 2009). This is the sixty-eighth book published by Kaminsky. It's the sixteenth novel in the mystery series featuring Inspector Porfiry Rostnikov. Rostnikov is one of the last honest police officers in Russia & he leads a team of other honest police officers out of the Office of Special Investigations, based in Moscow. His boss & the Director of the OSI is Igor Yaklovev, who is not one of the last honest police officers in Russia. However, the Yak has enough tentacles in high enough places that he has enough power to protect Rostnikov & his team from any outside interference from anyone except himself.
Kaminsky is one of my favorite mystery writers. Sadly, he died after a long illness in late 2009. He was only in his Seventies. He kept writing as long as he could. His work ethic made him a very prolific writer. He was able to juggle & keep alive four disparate mystery series at the same time. Of his four ongoing series, the series featuring Rostnikov is my third favorite. However, all of his series & books are fun reads.
His characters are always interesting & often have something unique about them. In this series, Rostnikov is a one-legged police officer who wears a prothesis, which never seems to slow him down. The supporting cast of characters perfectly supplement such a team leader, including his own son & his son's fiance.
In this novel there is a person who is going on a murder spree with the intention of becoming the largest serial killer in the history of Russia. We learn early on who this person is & Kaminsky keeps the reader interested in the chase to prove he's the killer. In a secondary plot, Kaminsky introduces a British female journalist who takes unnecessary risks in her search for a story to bust open corruption in Russia & to unmask the leaders of a huge prostitution ring. Her risks put members of Rostnikov's team in danger. The reader keep turning pages to see how these two plots get resolved. Kaminsky also tosses in tidbits about the personal lives of Rostnikov & his team, including planning a wedding & attempting to fix a busted marriage.
I'm saddened at Kaminsky's death. I wish he could still keep on writing & add more books to his oeuvre. His books have never disappointed me & have always kept me entertained & enthralled in the stories.

Stuart Kaminsky was able to create four (4) superb series in a genre where few can create even one. He will be sorely missed by fans of his four characters. For me I will miss our one legged Russian friend who had survived the "Great Patriotic War" with a damaged left leg (which had to be amputated almost forty years afterward) and the fall of the Soviet Union with his honor intact. During the Stalinist Era (or Error) Porfiry was able to hide in the police department and later as part of the Procurator's Department.

He was able to become part of the "Office of Special Investigations" and bring along Emil Karpo who had been with him for years, Sasha Tkach, the "Slouch" Zelach, his son and future daughter-in-law. Even with the change in bosses he was able to go on accomplishing the capture of murderers and bad guys, many who had powerful friends in the Kremlin and other place of power. But this book is a fitting end to the series as it leaves us with fond memories and knowing the all will be safe and prosper in the coming years.

Zeb Kantrowitz