"With the Taste of Ash" is an engrossing wartime detective story set in 1942 during the partisan struggle. The work by the author of the popular book “The Zastupa” unfolds in the Bryansk region, where partisans fight against German occupiers. A unit is preparing for a punitive operation, and at that time mysterious murders begin to occur in the “For the Motherland” detachment. An NKVD officer—expecting evacuation—takes charge of the investigation, plunging into a tangled web of deception and violence. The book is dedicated to those who faced the horrors of war on occupied lands, and pays tribute to everyone who stood up to the enemy and survived the tragedies of that time.