Blurb for this book: "It is the time of the Great Terror. Inspector Pekkala - known as the Emerald Eye - was the most famous detective in all Russia. He was the favourite of the Tsar. Now he is the prisoner of the men he once hunted. Like millions of others, he has been sent to the gulags in Siberia and, as far as the rest of the world is concerned, he is as good as dead. But a reprieve comes when he is summoned by Stalin himself to investigate a crime. His mission - to uncover the men who really killed the Tsar and his family, and to locate the Tsar's treasure. The reward for success will be his freedom and the chance to re-unite with a woman he would have married if the Revolution had not torn them apart. The price of failure - death. Set against the backdrop of the paranoid and brutal country that Russia became under the rule of Stalin, Eye of the Red Tsar introduces a compelling new figure to readers of crime fiction."
- adding my read comments shortly, reserved for World Mystery&Thriller VBB.

Minerva101 picked this from the VBB, and now that I've read and enjoyed the book, time to drop it to the post office today.

I'm surprised how much detail there was in this story. As in historical detail, and correctly.
There were only two minor things that I wouldn't agree on: they don't usually drain the body and add preservatives in the deceased in Finland (Pekkala remembers his father doing this, and the associated smell), and Pekkala's fiancee's name is Ilya. Ilya is not a woman's name.
But everything else - from the details of the knives to the generic bits of the history is amazing. And I like Pekkala's character, so I'll be definitely looking for more books in this series. :)

One of the books mentioned in this book is Kalevala - in case that would be of any interest, it can be found and read online here.

On the mail to Minerva101 who picked it from the VBB! Enjoy :)

Safe journey little book - I hope you'll make many new friends on your travels!

"Don't ever apologize to an author for buying something in paperback, or taking it out from a library (that's what they're there for. Use your library). Don't apologize to this author for buying books second hand, or getting them from bookcrossing or borrowing a friend's copy. What's important to me is that people read the books and enjoy them, and that, at some point in there, the book was bought by someone. And that people who like things, tell other people. The most important thing is that people read... "
— Neil Gaiman

When I got home from work today I found 3 packages in my mailbox and this book was one of them!
This book looks wonderful! And I loved the notecard that you included, aetm - it is so interesting to hear why others readers chose the book and enjoyed it originally :)
I am adding this to Mt. TBR, but I think it might jump up th epile fairly quickly after your rave review!
Thank you so much,aetm

I feel bad for leaving this book on my shelf for so long - it was a fantastic read! The main character, Pekkala, is flawed and tragic - he reminds me of John Cardinal in the Giles blunt series a little. Loved the detail of the time and the settings. Great characterization - I will definitely look for more in this series!
Thank you so much for the great read, aetm!

I enjoyed our visit today and I'm looking forward to reading this book after your recommendation. Thanks. :)

It didn't take me long to devour this book. I liked the pacing of the chapters, going forward and back through time in the events of Pekkala's life, and teasing out the suspense of what comes next.
Of course I am hooked into what happens next to poor Pekkala. The search is on for book 2...

Took the book to the Calgary BC meetup today.

Picked up this book at the Calgary BookCrossing July meet-up. Sounds like a cool little mystery.

Excellent mystery. Even though I was vaguely aware of what happened to the Romanovs, I was still really engaged and actually hoping that one of the family had made it out alive. I'm glad that the author included a brief summary of what actually happened at the end. I'd very much be interested in reading the second book. Pekkala is going to have to adjust living in a changed country.

Passing on this book to the next reader at the Calgary BookCrossing August meet-up.

Picked up at the Calgary bookcrossing meeetup two days ago. Sorry for the late registration.

I really really don't remember putting my name down in queue to read this book... It sounds interesting though...

I love all things related to Finland and I think when I put my name down for this book it would have been Pekkala's extremely Finnish name that caught my attention first. He reminds me of what the stereotypical stoic Finnish individual is, and that's what attracts me to his character the most.

What threw me off was the idolization of the tsar. The kind of person that he was depicted as in the book is rather faultless hero figure.

I liked the historical twist, and the real-life summary at the end. When I visited st. Petersburg in 2008 I knew they were doing DNA testing on remains to confirm identity, but it wasn't until I read the summary at the end that I discovered the remains were Maria's and not Anastasia. Cool!

Will be brought to the next Calgary BookCrossing meetup and handed off.

Picked up at the January meeting.

Taking to the August meet up!

To the finder:
Calgary has an active group of BookCrossers that meet to swap books and discuss book crossing every second Saturday of the month at 11am at Cravings Market on Fairmount Drive SE. We always love to meet new crossers, so please join us any time you like!

Just returned from the August meet up at Cravings and have just about as many books as I brought.

I too am guilty for leaving this on my shelf too long. Thought it was going to be a boring book but - NO!! Very interesting character and follows the story of the time after the Romanovs and the mystery around their deaths. Thanks for the great read.

I am taking this to the November meetup at Cravings.

Picked this up at the November meeting. We had 12 BookCrossers attend with 1 new member. Adding to my TBR shelf.