After the death of his father and the arrest of his mother during the Stalinist purge of Jewish doctors, young Leon Rozental hides in the secret rooms of the House on the Embankment, where he encounters a high-ranking Soviet officer with disturbing insights into the thoughts and actions of Joseph Stalin.

It's 1939. Russia teeters on the verge of war with Germany. It is also on the brink of bankruptcy. To preserve his regime, Stalin orders a search for the legendary missing gold of Tsar Nicholas II. For this task, he chooses Pekkala, the former investigator for the Tsar. To accomplish his mission, Pekkala will go undercover, returning to Siberia and the nightmare of his own past, where he was once a prisoner in the notorious Gulag known as Borodok...

"'A superb read, with some unexpected turns right at the end."--Crime Book of the Month, The Critic On the eve of Soviet purges, Detective Zaitsev returns to solve the murder of a Red Army horseman--the second installment in the ultimate noir detective series Perfect for fans of thrilling historical crime fiction, Philip Kerr's Bernie Gunther novels, and Lara Prescott's The Secrets We Kept "Fascinating reading This series has legs!"--Publishers Weekly...

In 1941, fifteen-year-old Lina, her mother, and brother are pulled from their home by Soviet guards and sent to Siberia, where her father is sentenced to death while she fights for her life, vowing to honor her family and the thousands like hers by burying her story in a jar on Lithuanian soil. Based on the author's family, includes a historical note.