A Vengerful Longing By R. N. Morris

St Petersburg Mysteries Series - Book Two

It is the middle of a hot, dusty St Petersburg summer in the late 1860s. 

A doctor brings home a fancy box of chocolates for his wife and son – a strange gift on a scorching Saturday afternoon.

Within an hour, both mother and child die in excruciating pain.

The doctor is arrested, suspected of poisoning. As investigator Porfiry Petrovich concedes, in such cases the obvious solution often turns out to be the correct one. And in the city’s sweltering, oppressive atmosphere, even he lacks the energy to look any deeper.

But when further, apparently unconnected, murders occur, a subtle and surprising pattern starts to emerge.

Porfiry is forced to reassess his assumptions and follow a tenuous, uncertain trail, encountering aristocrats, soldiers, lunatics, bureaucrats and courtesans.

His investigation takes him into the hidden, squalid heart of the city, bringing him face to face with incomprehensible horror and cruelty.

A Vengeful Longing is a taut, enthralling crime mystery, a vivid and utterly unforgettable rendering of a brutal and stifling nineteenth century St Petersburg.

Recommended for fans of Andrew Taylor, CJ Sansom and Boris Akunin.