The White Russian (Hardcover)

As the sun rises on New Year's day two bodies are found on the frozen river Neva within sight of the Imperial Palace. One man and a young woman have been brutally murdered. Sandro Ruzsky, St. Petersburg's chief police investigator is called to the scene. Sandro is the scion of a Russian noble, Nicolas Ruzsky, the Tsar's Deputy Finance Minister. Sandro's decision to join the police rather than take up the military career embarked upon by his father and his earlier ancestors has caused irreparable harm to the father/son relationship. The rift is further heightened by the blame Nicolas has always placed on Sandro for the death by drowning of Sandro's youngest brother.

It is Sandro's first day back on the job after a three-year exile/posting to Siberia courtesy of the Okhrana, the Tsar's secret police (the KGB of its day). Sandro's exile resulted in the break up of his marriage to his wife Irina who left Siberia to take up on affair with an aging, corpulent Grand Duke. Sandro is tired more than a bit tired, drunk, and hung-over as he steps onto the ice. Sandro is accompanied by his assistant Pavel. Sandro's exile was caused in no small part by Pavel's actions but Sandro took all the blame onto himself on the theory that Pavel, a person of lesser birth, would have suffered a fate worse than Sandro's. This action of course leaves Pavel devoted to Sandro.

These two murders are followed in rapid succession by other, equally brutal murders. It is Sandro's job to solve the murders which may or may not involve members of the Royal family. Sandro's investigation is impeded at every step of the way by the Okhrana. Nothing is quite what it seems and no one is quite who they seem. The story and Sandro's investigation takes him across Russia to his family's summer home and then on to the Crimea. As events proceed Sandro rediscover the love of his life and this tortured relationship wends its way through the story and forms an emotional cornerstone of the book that matches the examination of Sandro's relationship with his father.

It would be unfair to reveal any more of the story line. One of White Russian's strength is the development of the plot and his characters. A little bit is revealed on each page. It is fair to say that this book is more than a simply murder mystery. Bradby's characters, particularly those of Sandro and his father evoke a time and place where honor in the face of adversity counted more than either convenience or love. It is at once the cause and resolution of the rift between father and son. In a fast paced manner Bradby conveys with dexterity the feel of a city lost in a fog of war and insurrection. Everyone sees the revolution coming but like an out-of-control train no one seems willing or able to do anything about it.

Bradby takes us into the minds of the entrenched nobility, striking workers, and revolutionary students. One can feel the revolution approaching as the book reaches its climactic moments. It is the inevitability of the coming revolutions that serves as the conceptual underpinning of both the murders and the resolution of the story.

This was an enjoyable book.

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It was all the more disappointing, then, to reach the end of the novel and discover that the author, having written over 500 pages, seemed to have lost interest, and tied everything up in a couple of pages with a most unrealistic ending. I was left feeling cheated and doubt that I'll want to read another book byt this author, which is a pity, since up until the last few pages, I'd enjoyed it.

However, the writing of a convincing ending is a vital part of the mystery-writer's art and Bradby's failure to provide one is a serious -- fatal -- failure.

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