Investigator Arkady Renko has the thankless job of investigating a new phenomenon: reported late-night sightings of Joseph Stalin's ghost on a Moscow subway platform. The illusion may be wishful thinking; the bloody dictator boasts a two-to-one approval rating among modern Russians. Decidedly better than that of Renko, whose lover, Eva, has left him for civil war veteran Detective Nikolai Isakov, a charismatic hero of the far right and, Renko suspects, a killer for hire. When the cases entwine, Renko's investigation leads to the bitter fields of Tver, where shady entrepreneurs collect the bones, weapons, and personal effects of slain World War II soldiers, and find that even among the dead there are surprises. Smiths's latest New York Times bestseller, Stalin's Ghost, is an unparalleled thriller woven with a depth of humanity and infused with his trademark dark humor and page-turning action. Arkady Renko is an unforgettable character as cynical as Philip Marlowe, but with the heart of Chekhovian Everyman.