Punishment of a Hunter: A Leningrad Confidential

by Yulia Yakovleva, Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp (Translator)

Overview

THE FIRST IN A THRILLING NEW SERIES OF HISTORICAL MYSTERIES SET IN STALINIST RUSSIA, PERFECT FOR FANS OF BORIS AKUNIN

A SUNDAY TIMES CRIME CLUB PICK OF THE WEEK

A masterclass in historical crime fiction' Chris Lloyd, author of The Unwanted Dead

'Yulia Yakovleva's thrilling debut was a bestseller in her native Russia. It's not difficult to see why' The Times, Best New Crime Fiction

MURDER

1930s Leningrad. Stalin is tightening his grip on the Soviet Union, and a mood of fear cloaks the city. Detective Vasily Zaitsev is tasked with investigating a series of bizarre and seemingly motiveless homicides.

MAYHEM

As the curious deaths continue, precious Old Master paintings start to disappear from the Hermitage collection. Could the crimes be connected?

MISTRUST

When Zaitsev sets about his investigations, he meets with obstruction at every turn. Soon even he comes under suspicion from the Soviet secret police.

The resolute detective must battle an increasingly dangerous political situation in his dogged quest to find the murderer―and stay alive.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781782276784
Publisher:	Steerforth Press
Publication date:	10/18/2022
Series:	The Leningrad Confidential Series , #1
Sold by:	Penguin Random House Publisher Services
Format:	eBook
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	856,462
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Yulia Yakovleva is a writer, theatre and ballet critic, and playwright. She was inspired to write Punishment of a Hunter by her love of St Petersburg, where she grew up. The novel subsequently became a bestseller in Russia.
Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp translated literature from Arabic, German and Russian into English. Her work has been shortlisted for the Helen & Kirt Wolff Translator's Prize, The Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize and the GLLI Translated YA Prize.

Editorial Reviews

★ 08/22/2022

Set in the Soviet Union during the 1930s, Russian author Yakovleva’s outstanding U.S. debut, a series launch, captures the tense paranoid atmosphere of the period. Investigator Vasily Zaitsev, of the Leningrad Criminal Investigation Department, looks into the murder of bookkeeper Faina Baranova, who was found strangled in her room. Baranova’s killer posed the corpse on an armchair, with a white rose in one hand and a feather duster in the other, and had brought red silk curtains into the apartment to display behind the body. Before Zaitsev can advance in his inquiries, he falls afoul of the OGPU, the secret police unit responsible for punishing “crimes against Soviet ideology,” who believe the investigator has a suspect lineage. Fortunately, his terrifying captivity is cut short when he’s needed to help with a multiple murder, whose victims include a Black American Communist and three Russian women, all posed as if for a portrait. Yakovleva perfectly balances evoking the terror of living in a police state with her whodunit plotline. Fans of Martin Cruz Smith’s Arkady Renko will hope to see much more of Zaitsev. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

The miseries of the 1930s are vividly rendered in Punishment of a Hunter for an unsettling and gripping achievement.”
—Crime Reads

“Outstanding... Yakovleva perfectly balances evoking the terror of living in a police state with her whodunit plotline. Fans of Martin Cruz Smith’s Arkady Renko will hope to see much more of Zaitsev.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

From the Publisher