Summary: Rostnikov, on vacation in Yalta, learns that the death of a fellow investigator on vacation was murder, and that top investigators throughout Moscow are being sent on vacation at the time of a major political rally.

Porfiry Rostnikov is on vacation in Yalta. Rather, he was sent on vacation. He accepts it because it is a chance for recuperation of his wife, Sarah, from brain surgery. He meets another investigator, Georgi Vasilievich, has pleasant conversations with him in the evenings, until Vasilievich turns up dead from an apparent heart attack, only it turns out to be murder. The signs show that his killers inflicted painful interrogation first, and searched his room.

Meanwhile, his assistant Emil Karpo is investigating the murder of an East German, until he is also ordered on vacation. He stretches his departure to finish his investigation while the others on the team pursue a band of computer thieves preying on Jewish computer specialists, resulting in Sasha Tkach discovering he is all too human, failing his partner Zelach, who winds up in the hospital. He ends up joining Karpo.

What is it Vasilievich had discovered? What connection did this have with all the top investigators around Moscow being sent on vacation? Who was doing this and why, in a Moscow caught in a power struggle between Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin? And why does all this coincide with a major political rally?

You probably have a sense of where this is going. That’s what made this diverting rather than riveting. You want to see how Rostnikov and his team figure out what’s going on. There are predictable instances of things being not as they seem. Perhaps one of the reasons Kaminsky sends Rostnikov on vacation is it offers a chance to develop other characters on the team–Tkach, Karpo, and even Zelach.

This was not the most outstanding in the series. Kaminsky develops Rostnikov’s team, explores the labyrinthine maneuverings of the Kremlin with an engaging enough plot to hold your interest. Sometimes, that’s all a book needs to do. ( )

While on a forced vacation in Yalta, Inspector Rostnikov is frustrated by inactivity, until a former acquaintance and high-ranking official dies suddenly. The official cause of death is declared to be a heart attack, but Rostnikov knows better. And in Moscow, while Tkach is playing decoy for gangs that beat their victims almost to death, Emil Karpo ignores orders in order to trail the insane killer of a German tourist. Good, solid storytelling, plot twists, and more of the characters we have come to know so well. ( )

Somewhat confusing because of the long, unfamiliar names, but well written with a twist here and there.
Gives a little background of the turbulent time of the breakup of the USSR

Wouldn't use this one as an introduction to the series. Falls a little flat. ( )

Ah... Kaminsky's Inpector Rostnikov series... such a delight, always... Despite some gruesome crime scenes, unavoidable in a crime novel, it's a pleasure to read, I hope the author keeps them comin. I am still anticipating the few in the series that I haven't read...Even notwithstanding Kaminsky's bizarre and amusing tendency to sort of invent some of the Russian names, instead of giving his characters the typical Russian names (well, in the case of the protagonist Porfiry Petrovich Rostnikov - it's not an unusual name..., while some others are pretty stunning), it's still a great pleasure to read. ( )