{"product_id":"a-vengeful-longing-a-porfiry-petrovich-mystery-paperback","title":"A Vengeful Longing: A Porfiry Petrovich Mystery - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eMorris\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eSt Petersburg Mysteries Series - Book Two\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"Right from the start, we are hooked by his storytelling panache.\" Daily Express\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"Satisfies on more than one level - as a story of investigation but also as a historical novel crammed with sharply individual characters.\" Andrew Taylor\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt is the middle of a hot, dusty St Petersburg summer in the late 1860s. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA doctor brings home a fancy box of chocolates for his wife and son - a strange gift on a scorching Saturday afternoon.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWithin an hour, both mother and child die in excruciating pain. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe doctor is arrested, suspected of poisoning. As investigator Porfiry Petrovich concedes, in such cases the obvious solution often turns out to be the correct one. And in the city's sweltering, oppressive atmosphere, even he lacks the energy to look any deeper.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBut when further, apparently unconnected, murders occur, a subtle and surprising pattern starts to emerge.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePorfiry is forced to reassess his assumptions and follow a tenuous, uncertain trail, encountering aristocrats, soldiers, lunatics, bureaucrats and courtesans. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHis investigation takes him into the hidden, squalid heart of the city, bringing him face to face with incomprehensible horror and cruelty.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eA Vengeful Longing\u003c\/i\u003e is a taut, enthralling crime mystery, a vivid and utterly unforgettable rendering of a brutal and stifling nineteenth century St Petersburg.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRecommended for fans of Andrew Taylor, CJ Sansom and Boris Akunin.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eR.N. Morris\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of the Porfiry Petrovich series of historical crime novels, featuring the investigating magistrate from Dostoevsky's masterpiece \u003ci\u003eCrime and Punishment\u003c\/i\u003e. He has also written six novels set in London in 1914: \u003ci\u003eSummon Up The Blood\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Mannequin House\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eA Dark Palace\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe White Feather Killer\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Music Box Enigma\u003c\/i\u003e. His latest novel is \u003ci\u003eFortune's Hand\u003c\/i\u003e, a novel about Walter Raleigh. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePraise for Roger Morris: \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"An extraordinary excursion into the past by a master storyteller. I have never read a book quite like it, nor admired a book so much.\" \u003cb\u003eMichael Gregorio\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Morris' recreation of the seamy side of 19th-century St Petersburg is vivid and convincing ... As to who did it, Morris keeps the reader guessing until the end.\" \u003cb\u003eThe Independent\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Morris has created an atmospheric St Petersburg, and a stylish set of intellectual problems, but what makes \u003ci\u003eA Gentle Axe\u003c\/i\u003e such an effective debut is its fascination with good and evil.\" \u003cb\u003eTimes Literary Supplement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"As fans of Morris's previous \u003ci\u003eA Gentle Axe\u003c\/i\u003e will know, this author not only has the nerve to lift his lead character from Dostoevsky's \u003ci\u003eCrime and Punishment\u003c\/i\u003e but also the skill to bring that distant Russia and its inhabitants to life, while drawing parallels with our own world.\" \u003cb\u003eThe Guardian\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"The streets of St Petersburg are vividly portrayed as the author shows the imperial Russian capital on the brink of upheaval... If you like historical crime novels, you will enjoy this.\" \u003cb\u003eHistorical Novels Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Morris's descriptions of the horrors of insanitary slum dwellings in St Petersburg are extraordinarily vivid, but the most striking feature of the novel is the way in which Porfiry's sophisticated understanding of human nature compensates for the limited investigatory tools at his disposal.\" \u003cb\u003eThe Times\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"... a book that satisfies on more than one level - as a story of investigation and also as a historical novel crammed with sharply individualised characters.\" \u003cb\u003eAndrew Taylor in the Spectator\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 288\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.65 x 8 x 5 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e January 27, 2021\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42100378370183,"sku":"9798700841917","price":16.18,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0601\/2623\/2711\/files\/ec58686e9a7e0b39779fd1917dc38ade.webp?v=1732384045","url":"https:\/\/booksby.splitshops.com\/products\/a-vengeful-longing-a-porfiry-petrovich-mystery-paperback","provider":"Books by splitShops","version":"1.0","type":"link"}