A Vengeful Longing - Softcover

Morris, R. N.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0143115499 ISBN 13: 9780143115496

Publisher: Penguin Group USA, 2009

Synopsis

The acclaimed author of The Gentle Axe returns with another atmospheric thriller starring investigator Porfiry Petrovich

Hailed with glowing reviews, R. N. Morris's The Gentle Axe borrowed Porfiry Petrovich of Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment to create a wholly new, hauntingly authentic novel of suspense. A Vengeful Longing, Petrovich's next outing, is even more engrossing. As the laconic investigator follows a trail that begins innocently with a box of chocolates, he is drawn deep into St. Petersburg's squalid heart. Aided by Morris's effortless prose, readers are immersed in the stifling world of nineteenth-century tsarist Russia and treated to an unforgettable rendering of a brutal time and place that will ensnare every fan of sophisticated historical fiction.

About this title

Product Description

317 pages. Book appears to have hardly been read and is in Fine condition throughout. In The Heat Of St Petersburg Summer Of 1868, A Doctor's Wife And Son Are Found Dead, Victims Of A Suspected Poisoning.

Review

A Vengeful Longing confirms what RN Morris’ previous novel, A Gentle Axe, suggested – that here is major talent in the increasingly overcrowded historical crime field. On the evidence here, Morris is writing novels that rival the very best in the genre in terms of atmosphere, plausible historical detail and exemplary plotting. Two people – a mother and son -- are murdered; a box of chocolates delivered by woman's husband contains an agonising poison. The detectives investigating the killing (in which the doctor husband is, of course, the prime suspect – and seems to telegraph his guilt when interviewed) are the novice Virginsky and the experienced Porfiry Petrovich – the later, of course, the protagonist in Morris’ previous books -- And the policeman in Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment, no less. Morris audaciously utilised Petrovich in his previous novel. That gamble (cheeky though it was) has paid off handsomely there – and does so once again in A Vengeful Longing.

19th-century Russia is once again evoked with total authority, and the murder investigation has the compulsiveness of modern crime fiction – with the added frisson of a brilliantly conjured period setting. The continuation of characters created by other authors is nothing new, but few have the chutzpah of RN Morris – or the skill to pull off (not once, but twice – and more, we are told) this daring trick. --Barry Forshaw

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Group USA
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0143115499
• ISBN 13: 9780143115496
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 317