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by Jaroslav (Jerry) Petryshyn (Author)
Imagine crime in a society where the biggest criminal is the state attempting to murder its citizens...
1930 Soviet Ukraine: Katya Karina Kharsova, secretary (and mistress) to Kreil Gromeko, commissar of Commerce and Industry in Kyiv, is a witness to her boss's murder by a colleague during an argument over the "spoils" of their corrupt city schemes. Suddenly, she finds herself on the run.
With the help of a young agronomist, Oleksander Pylyp, Katya manages to escape Kyiv to Oleksander's village, Bila Sich. While hiding from her pursuer and the police, both she and Oleksander find themselves in the middle of a larger turmoil - the Communist Party's attempt to collectivize individual land holdings into a state farm.
Meanwhile, Captain Emil Krypniuk of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Kyiv Police and his sergeant must determine who killed the commissar of Commerce and Industry and why. Their job becomes much more complicated when the Unified State Political Administration (OGPU) takes over the case. Krypniuk is ordered to report directly to Boris Pavlick, Office of Special Investigations (OGPU). Clearly, there is more to the matter than a simple homicide. Power and politics are inextricably linked and Krypniuk must proceed with utmost caution.
Set against Stalin's manmade famine in Ukraine, this timely novel combines intrigue and subterfuge, love and betrayal with historical events. A poignant story in the context of Stalin's ultimate crime to a nation's people.
