This is the fifth Porfiry Rostnikov novel I've read, but it is actually the third in the series. And what a striking difference the Rostnikov here is from the other stories. Here Porfiry is a bitter, and almost depressed old man. His attempts at blackmailing the KGB into letting him and his Jewish wife leave the Soviet Union has failed miserably, and now he is assigned the lowest priority cases possible to investigate.Despite his bitterness Porfiry does not let that stop him from deciding to solve the case of old Jewish man murdered in his apartment bathtub instead of just filing a report about the incident. Other events, including a car theft ring that steals high priced autos from Soviet officials, enable Porfiry to escape his exile for a little time.As is usual Karpo and Sasha have cases going on and are in the story as they were part of his old investigative unit. All three cases end well before the book does. Soviet political machinations take up the end of the book.Certainly not the the best installment in the series to date.
