City of Ghosts

The first in a trilogy, City of Ghosts is set in the Leningrad of 1951 where the shadows of the war and the threats of Stalinism loom large.

When five blackened corpses are found neatly arranged between three parallel railway lines, even Revol Rossel - once a Conservatoire-trained violinist, now a humble state militia-cop - is sickened by the gruesome scene. Whether victims of the MGB or a crazed yet methodical killer, these bodies soon lead Rossel back into the dark and ruthless heart of the Soviet classical music establishment, a place where his dreams were shattered and his ghosts barely laid to rest.

“'Reminded me of Gorky Park , only I liked this tense, complex thriller even better' - James Patterson .”

A highly assured and entertaining debut . . . Martin Cruz Smith's Gorky Park [...] may have a true heir THE TIMES
A worthy successor to Cruz Smith's Arkady Renko . . . A fine and often moving thriller FINANCIAL TIMES

Ben Creed is the pseudnoym for Chris Rickaby and Barney Thompson. Chris found his way into advertising as a copywriter and, after working for various agencies, started his own called Everything Different. Barney is a classically trained musician who studied under the legendary conducting professor Ilya Musin at the St Petersburg Conversatory for two years. He is fluent in Russian and is now an editor.

Gruesome crime meets the secrets of the classical music establishment in the shadow of Stalinist Leningrad. For fans of Child 44 , Joseph Kanon and Philip Kerr. The first in a trilogy, City of Ghosts is set in the Leningrad of 1951 where the shadows of the war and the threats of Stalinism loom large. When five blackened corpses are found neatly arranged between three parallel railway lines, even Revol Rossel - once a Conservatoire-trained violinist, now a humble state militia-cop - is sickened by the gruesome scene. Whether victims of the MGB or a crazed yet methodical killer, these bodies soon lead Rossel back into the dark and ruthless heart of the Soviet classical music establishment, a place where his dreams were shattered and his ghosts barely laid to rest.

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