The murder of Yvonne Harrison had left Thames Valley CID baffled. A year after the dreadful crime they are still no nearer to making an arrest. But one man has yet to tackle the case — and it is just the sort of puzzle at which Chief Inspector Morse excels.

So why is he adamant that he will not lead the re-investigation, despite the entreaties of Chief Superintendent Strange and dark hints of some new evidence? And why, if he refuses to take on the case officially, does he seem to be carrying out his own private enquiries?

For Sergeant Lewis this is yet another example of the unsettling behaviour his chief has been displaying of late. As if the sergeant didn’t have enough to worry about with Morse’s increasingly fragile health...

But when Lew is learns that Morse was once friendly with Yvonne Harrison, he begins to suspect that the man who has earned his admiration over so many years knows more about her death than anyone else...

Morse sought to hide his disappointment. So many people in the Haworth Hotel that fateful evening had been wearing some sort of disguise — a change of dress, a change of make-up, a change of partner, a change of attitude, a change of life almost; and the man who had died had been the most consummate artist of them all. . Chief Inspector Morse seldom allowed himself to be caught up in New Year celebrations. So the murder inquiry in the festive hotel had a certain appeal. It was a crime worthy of the season. The corpse was still in fancy dress. And hardly a single guest at the Haworth had registered under a genuine name. .

The newly appointed member of the Oxford Examinations Syndicate was deaf, provincial and gifted. Now he is dead. . And his murder, in his north Oxford home, proves to be the start of a formidably labyrinthine case for Chief Inspector Morse, as he tries to track down the killer through the insular and bitchy world of the Oxford Colleges. .

In this thrilling debut novel from Russia, a brilliant law student investigates a series of recent killings and uncovers the dark terrors of medieval Moscow.

Ever since the unsolved murder of her father, law student Masha Karavay has nursed an obsession with homicide cases. When she nabs an internship with Moscow’s Central Directorate Headquarters, seasoned detective Andrey Yakovlev gives her a file of bizarre, seemingly unrelated slayings that should keep her busy and out of his way. But when Masha discerns a connection between the crimes and the symbolic world of medieval Moscow, she has Andrey’s full attention. The victims weren’t just abandoned… they were displayed—from Red Square to Kutafya Tower to the Bersenevskaya waterfront. What Masha and Andrey are dealing with is no ordinary serial killer, but rather a psycho with an unfathomable purpose, guided by sacred texts to punish his victims in the most unspeakable—and public—ways.

As each clue leads deeper into a maze of fanaticism and medieval ritual, all that stands between the terrors of ancient Moscow and a series of murders defiling a modern city is Masha and the killer himself. Soon, their personal obsessions will collide.