When Cruz Smith is at his best, it is impossible to tell how much is research and how much imagination... he moves into the realm of high adventure, alongside such writers as John Buchan, Hammond Innes, the great Lionel Davidson and Geoffrey Household'.

Winter is what Muscovites live for. Knee-deep snow softens the city and flows from golden dome to golden dome. Snow drives the common citizen into the Metro. where stations are still 'Palaces of the Proletariat'. There on the platform people see the ghost of Joseph Stalin Not everyone, it seems, likes the fact that Stalin is dead...

Assigned to this delicate matter is the pariah of the Prosecutor's Office, Scnior Investigator Arkady Renko.

But in the midst of a blizzard nothing is as it first appears to be. Renko's girlfriend and his adopted son seem to be slipping into danger. A chess grandmaster wanders into Renko's life and leads him into the line of fire. Diehard Communists gather to sing along with Stalin. 'Red Diggers" uncover secrets buried for halfa century m a desolate forest and Renko discovers ghosts that have been waiung for him all his life...