Murder at the Dacha

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matushkin has a problem. Several, actually. Not the least of them is the fact that a powerful Soviet boss has been murdered, and Matushkin's surly commander has given him an unreasonably short time frame to close the case.

Then there is the KGB colonel who seems a bit too interested in the course of Matushkin's investigation... and Pavel's womanizing office mate, who gets involved with a subject of the case... and a series of petty burglaries that defy resolution... and of course Pavel's complicated love interest, who is as prickly as she is perceptive...

For readers who love the novels of William Ryan, Tom Rob Smith and Martin Cruz Smith, now there is Alexei Bayer – a Russian-born, American educated writer of Russian-based detective novels.

Bayer’s gripping novel oozes with a native’s familiarity with Russian reality, yet his literate, richly descriptive style is that of a native English writer. In Murder at the Dacha, Bayer masterfully recreates the Soviet Union of his youth, to offer a vivid, gripping tale of deception, greed, murder, and a simple detective just trying to do his job.