Autumn with a Detective

A stunning story of how, in far-off Soviet years, a famous singer—the favorite of Brezhnev himself—was murdered, and what the investigators had to do to keep their positions.

Year 1966. As a prop for the murder, the killer chose the black, ashen-lacquered lid of a concert grand piano. Thirteen small saucers were placed on it, and on each saucer there were burning candles. The killer carefully examined the chaise longue where the dead man lay, removed the emptied sleep-medication boxes from the side table. One final touch remained—the icing on the cake…

The murderer carefully placed on the singer’s chest a photograph of a woman and a strip of paper with a short phrase written in printed letters.

Half a century later, a young journalist, Petr Kravchenko, became captivated by this case. The legendary Anastasia Kamenskaya, a retired operative, helps him establish contact with people connected to those long-ago events—people who may be able to uncover the grim secrets of the past…