‘It's very hard, feeling that you're no more than a piece of unwanted furniture in this world.’

Anton Chekhov’s longest narrative work and only full-length novel, The Shooting Party is a gripping mystery which lay the foundation for modern crime writing.

Olga, the beautiful daughter of a drunken retailer, is unlucky in love. Idolised by the hard-working Urbenin, bailiff to the rural estate where she and her father reside, and desired by Zinovyev, the local magistrate, Olga must make a decision. In an attempt to escape the poverty of her own home and her father’s erratic behaviour, she marries Urbenin, but is miserable in secret. After beginning an illicit affair with Alexei, the Count of the estate, Olga is found in the nearby woods, a knife through her chest. But through the complicated web of lust, dishonesty and corruption, finding Olga’s killer becomes an impenetrable mystery, one which grows increasingly more difficult to unravel. Utterly captivating, The Shooting Party is a tragic account of unrequited love, deadly jealousy and secret loathing.

Anton Chekhov (1860 – 1904) was a Russian dramatist and short story writer. He is best known for his plays, including The Seagull (1896) and Uncle Vanya (1899), which are regarded as key works from early modernist theatre. Today, Chekhov is considered as one of the greatest writers in Russian literary history.