Samson Kolechko Investigates Series

Longlisted for the International Booker Prize 2024

The first in a series of historical mysteries set amid the chaos of the Russian Revolution. By the author of Death and the Penguin and Grey Bees

Kyiv, 1919. The Soviets control the city, but White armies menace them from the West. No man trusts his neighbour and any spark of resistance may ignite into open rebellion.

When Samson Kolechko's father is murdered, his last act is to save his son from a falling Cossack sabre. Deprived of his right ear instead of his head, Samson is left an orphan, with only his father's collection of abacuses for company.

Until, that is, his flat is requisitioned by two Red Army soldiers, whose secret plans Samson is somehow able to overhear with uncanny clarity. Eager to thwart them, he stumbles into a world of murder and intrigue that will either be the making of him - or finish what the Cossack started.

Translated from the Russian by Boris Dralyuk