It's the middle of a hot, dusty St Petersburg summer in the late 1860s. A doctor's wife and son die suddenly and the doctor is arrested, suspected of poisoning. But when further, apparently unconnected, murders occur, Porfiry Petrovich is forced to reassess his assumptions. Delving into the hidden, squalid heart of the city, he is brought face to face with incomprehensible horror and cruelty, in this vivid rendering of a brutal and stifling nineteenth-century St Petersburg.

Accolades

Shortlisted for CWA Duncan Lawrie Dagger 2008.

Author Biography

Born in Manchester in 1960, R.N. Morris now lives in North London with his wife and two young children. A Vengeful Longing follows A Gentle Axe in a series of St. Petersburg novels revolving around the character of Porfiry Petrovich. Taking Comfort was published by Macmillan under the name Roger Morris in 2006.