by R. N. Morris
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Product Description
Fresh off the case of a deranged student who murdered his landlady, noted police investigator Porfiry Petrovich barely takes a breath before a bizarre and very grisly double murder lands him back on the streets of the tsarist St. Petersburg he knows all too well. The sardonic sleuth follows a trail from the drinking dens of the Haymarket district to an altogether more genteel stratum of society-a hunt that leads him to a conclusion even he will find shocking. In the tradition of such first-rate historical novels such as The Alienist and The Dante Club, The Gentle Axe is atmospheric and tense storytelling from its dramatic opening to its stunning climax.
Amazon.com Review
Porfiry Petrovich, the police investigator who worked on the case involving the deranged student Raskolnikov in Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, is given another life in R.N. Morris's The Gentle Axe. It is 1867 in St. Petersburg, Russia, on a cold winter morning. An elderly woman is scouring Petrovsky Park in search of a few sticks of firewood. What she finds instead is horrifying: a big, burly peasant hanging by a rope from a tree, with a blood-covered axe tucked into his belt. Nearby, she finds a suitcase. Packed inside is the body of a dwarf, with a deep head wound caused by an axe. Conventional wisdom says that the peasant killed the dwarf and then, in a paroxysm of guilt and remorse, killed himself. That scenario is good enough for everyone but Porfiry. In a wonderfully atmospheric novel, Morris has created a world-weary protagonist in Porfiry, a man still exhausted from his last case, joined by a collection of absolutely believable characters to flesh out the novel. Mysteries abound and multiply in layers of characterization and narrative. Porfiry's investigation goes on, despite repeated attempts to take him off the case, and it leads him from the dregs of society to its most genteel heights. He follows clues, hunches, people, and stories to get to the bottom of the mystery--and when he does, it comes as a complete surprise, but one that makes perfect sense. This carefully written and entertaining novel will satisfy lovers of mystery, historical crime, and just plain good novels. --Valerie Ryan
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Average Customer Review:
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
 An Oustanding Period Novel, 2010-02-20
If you have read Dostoevsky's "Crime and Punishment" you will recognize the protagonist of this novel written a couple of years ago by R. N. Wilson, a British writer, and set (obviously) in the 1860s when the events of "Crime and Punishment" also occurred. This is a quality thriller and murder mystery full of period detail and description.The Gentle Axe
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Exceptional, 2009-09-02
I can't remember the last time I enjoyed reading a novel as much as I enjoyed reading this one!
There is a richness to the writing style that I have yet to find in another crime-thriller of this century. The characters are well crafted with unique distinctions; the reader is able to clearly visualize each person as if he/she were a neighbor. Settings are so well detailed that a part of you may forget you are not in Russia in 1866.
It is so rare that I find a work this fulfilling. I simply can't ask for more from an author.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 Crime after Crime & Punishment, 2009-07-19
I have a prejudice against authors who steal characters from great writers of the past. Many readers don't mind this: witness the success of the proliferating thieves of Jane Austen characters.
If you're of my opinion, you may resent The Gentle Axe, with its investigator plucked from Crime & Punishment. If not, you may enjoy the resurrection of old St. Petersburg and its bureaucratic officials, volatile intellectuals and poignant prostitutes.
Two lodgers from the same residence are found dead in Petrovsky Park: a dwarf in a trunk and a humble yardman who appears to have hanged himself. The higher authorities want to close the case, assuming that the large man hanged himself in remorse after killing the small man with an axe. But based on forensic evidence, examining magistrate Porfiry Petrovich feels certain they were both murdered.
The Prokuror, Porfiry's superior, seems so irrationally obstructive as to be almost unbelievable. But no doubt I just don't understand the Russian soul. No matter how the bodies pile up, Porfiry gets no encouragement to investigate.
Porfiry is kind at heart, blinks and smokes a lot, and uses psychology to rattle suspects and his hostile sidekick. For me, these mostly superficial characteristics do not add up to a great literary detective. But the author does pretty well with atmosphere, and his murderer is warped in an original way.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Nice Mystery Story, 2009-02-09
I purchased this book without knowing its main character was Porfiry Petrovich. Crime and Punishment was a favorite of mine during my college years, as were other Dostoevsky's writings. When I realized the connection I thought, "oh no" and anxiously anticipated a train wreck. Instead I got an enjoyable modern mystery novel that really did not need the use of Petrovich to make it good. Morris obviously could not match the tone of Dostoevsky's writing and thankfully did not try. My only complaints were (1) at times the conversation seemed slow, stale, and predictable and (2) the wrap-up was too quick and too hard to connect to what I had just read. Even with these complaints, I am keeping my eye for when Mr. Norris's next book hits the shelves of my local book store.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Crime & Punishment: SVU, 2009-01-20
After a century and a half wait, we finally get the pulse-pounding sequel to Crime & Punishment -- or at least, this cunning little literary conceit disguised as a compelling thriller. Maybe the period detail isn't as authentic as a Boris Akunin novel, but it's a respectable cousin. The involving mystery moves briskly, with well-drawn characters. Best of all are some long exchanges of perfectly crafted dialogue you may find yourself re-reading. Superb.
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