Death of the Red Rider

August 21, 2023
Yakovleva follows up 2022’s Punishment of a Hunter with an atmospheric police procedural set in 1931 Leningrad, a destabilized world where the streets have been renamed for communist leaders and the rules of justice are being rewritten at every turn. Detective Vasily Zaitsev takes the case of a harness racing driver named Perlov, who’s died in a suspicious accident. Perlov was an instructor at a prestigious cavalry school, and when its leaders and cadets suddenly depart for the southern city of Novocherkassk after his death, Zaitsev follows, arriving at what Soviet leaders have passed off as the land of plenty only to find people starving in the streets. Among a sprawling cast of jaded bureaucrats and suffering citizens, Zaitsev must navigate shifting political mores as he tries to solve the mystery of Perlov’s death before he loses the allegiance of the anxious officials who’ve hired him. All the moral murk makes for fascinating reading, and Yakovleva never lets the historical detail crowd out the central mystery. This series has legs.