A Vengeful Longing

R N Morris

Three gruesome murders in the stifling summer heat of 1860's St Petersburg: Porfiry Petrovich is convinced there’s a connection but we’re all kept guessing until the final chapter. You certainly don’t have to have read Crime and Punishment to enjoy this intelligent, atmospheric novel; if you have, there’s an added pleasure in seeing Dostoyevsky’s engaging, brilliant and very human detective exercise his forensic and psychological skills again.

Extract

The policeman looked over his shoulder gleefully then came into the room, closing the door behind him. His open, amiable face registered good-natured surprise when he saw Virginsky on Porfiry's fake leather sofa. 'Good morning to you, Pavel Pavlovich. I heard you had joined the service. A case of poacher turned gamekeeper, is it?'
'I cannot imagine what you mean. Your jest makes it sound as if I was once a criminal. I was never arrested with any crime, merely suspected. And wrongly arrested.'
'Of course, of course. A very important distinction, I'm sure,' said Nikodim Fomich, winking at Porfiry. 'One can always count on you, Porfiry Petrovich, to eschew the obvious in preference for the obscure.'

Parallels