The Gentle Axe: A Novel

Stumbling through Petrovsky Park one cold morning in search of firewood, an elderly woman makes a horrifying discovery. A burly peasant twirls in the wind, hanging from a bowed tree by a rope about his neck, a bloody axe tucked into his belt. Nearby, packed neatly into a suitcase, is the body of a dwarf, a deep axe wound splitting his skull in two.



It does not take long for the noted police investigator Porfiry Petrovich, still drained from his work on the case involving the deranged student...