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Rostnikov's Vacation

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Rostnikov's Vacation

By: Stuart M. Kaminsky
Narrated by: John McLain
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About this listen

Murder intrudes on a Moscow cop's vacation: "Kaminsky's Rostnikov novels are among the best mysteries being written" (The San Diego Union-Tribune).

Inspector Porfiry Rostnikov is finding spring in Yalta to be quite lovely. Accompanying his wife, Sarah, as she gets much needed rest and recuperation after her surgery, reading American crime novels, and gazing at the Black Sea, the Moscow cop is reasonably content - even if his superiors did insist that he take this vacation. But his time off is destined to be short-lived. A former colleague with emphysema has come south to improve his health. Instead Georgi Vasilievich has dropped dead from what appears to be heart failure. The inspector is not so sure.

The local officials want to sweep the incident under the rug. But it turns out Vasilievich was investigating a high-level military conspiracy. Rostnikov takes a look at his files, putting him on the trail of a gang of hardliners who refuse to give up the Soviet dream - and who will go to murderous lengths to ensure that perestroika never comes to pass.

©1991 Stuart M. Kaminsky (P)2021 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books Crime Crime Fiction Mystery Police Procedural Fiction Russia Heartfelt
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Enjoyed this in print and the audiobook almost matches that experience. Set against the background of real-life events in post-Soviet Russia, this is another Porfiry Rostnikov murder mystery with our hero taking the role of John Le Carré's spy-hunter, George Smiley. Great story-telling.

Considering how good McLain is when it comes to characterisation and the dialogue, the other elements of the narration are a let down. I don't know if it's a deliberate choice by the producer, but John McLain sounds a little bot-like when he is narrating exposition and descriptive passages. Sing-song and with emphasis in the wrong places, it is more than a little odd and sometimes just plain distracting.

One of Kaminsky's best

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