The novel “A Square for the Dead” belongs to a rather exotic and rare genre: it’s Petersburg-style black humor with a light touch of mysticism. In his books Sergei Arno pokes fun at what other authors describe with a completely straight face. Master of phantasmagoria, absurdity, and black humor. Even the most horrifying scenes he depicts with humor—so the reader is both scared and laughing at the same time. For generations in Russia’s criminal underworld, secret knowledge was passed down: how to drug a person so they appear dead, and how to awaken such sleepers. In 1924, a well-known man fell asleep this way—one that some people would certainly like to wake up today…