First time in Russian: the continuation of “the best British debut in the detective genre in many years” (Crimescene Magazine), a “noir as sharp as a blade, something completely out of the ordinary” (Lee Child). The first novel about Aidan Waites, “The Sirens,” became the UK’s main bestseller among detective debuts of 2017 (100,000 copies), was translated into 18 languages, and currently the Lookout Point studio (“Suitable Boyfriend,” “Gentleman Jack”) is preparing a film adaptation of the entire trilogy. Detective Constable Aidan Waites and his night-shift partner, Detective Inspector Sutcliffe, arrive on a call at a closed “Hotel Palace.” On the fifth floor of an abandoned historic building, they find a person—tanned skin, blue eyes, a wide smile, and dead. Dressed decently but with not a single document in his pockets, and even the clothing labels have been torn off. What’s more—skin has been removed from the fingertips, and the teeth have been filed down for crowns. How do you solve the murder of a man who seems not to exist at all? Especially when, from Aidan Waites’ past, an unwanted and terrifying ghost appears…
Word to the author: “I was inspired by a real murder behind ‘The Smiling Man,’ which has remained unsolved for seventy years, and even the victim’s identity has still not been established. Perhaps it’s the strangest and most mysterious case in the history of world forensics.”