Hard Currency

The Soviet Union is dead, and Russian society has been fractured into a thousand pieces. Through those cracks seeps the first serial killer in the country's history, whose exploits send Moscow into a frenzy. As his colleagues hunt for the pipe-wielding maniac who's killed 40 women so far, Police Inspector Porfiry Rostnikov must depart for Havana to avoid an international incident.

First, Rostnikov must confront his fear of flying - or more specifically, flying on Russian airplanes. Assuming he lands safely in Havana, this case will require the utmost diplomacy. A Russian politician is accused of murdering a young Cuban woman. Rostnikov's superiors want things wrapped up cleanly and quickly. Unfortunately, their man in Havana is about to discover there is nothing simple about this murder.

©1995 Stuart M. Kaminsky (P)2021 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Excellent story, mediocre narrator

The plotting, the writing and the characters are high quality and riveting, holding the interest with suspense. The narrator insists on mispronuncing the Russian names of people and place names. He doesn't even seem to try learning how they're pronounced and it's very distracting.