Punishment of a Hunter (The Leningrad Confidential Series #1)

by Yulia Yakovleva, Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp (Translator)

Overview

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

The debut of the ultimate noir detective series: set in Stalinist Russia, riddled with corruption, informers, and purges that takes paranoia to the next level

Perfect for readers of John Banville, Philip Kerr, and Lara Prescott's The Secrets We Kept, and for fans of the international Netflix sensation Babylon Berlin

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.

“Leads the hero (as well as the reader) through every circle of soviet hell, to a bright finale.” —Medusa

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781782276791
Publisher:	Steerforth Press
Publication date:	11/01/2022
Series:	The Leningrad Confidential Series , #1
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	110,173
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.80(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Yulia Yakovleva is a writer, theatre and ballet critic, and playwright. She is particularly known for two types of historical fiction set in Stalin-era Leningrad: the award-winning children’s chapter book series The Leningrad Tales that confront Soviet history, and the thrilling new series of detective novels about Leningrad police investigator Vasily Zaitsev. Yakovleva received her MA from School of Creative Arts of the University of Hertfordshire. She lives in Oslo, Norway, with her husband and son.

Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp translates literature from Arabic, German and Russian into English. Her work has been shortlisted for many prestigious prizes including the Helen & Kurt Wolff Translator's 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