Red Chameleon

Rostnikov is in the doghouse after his adventures of the first two novels in this series. He has a new boss who is, of course, a jerk. The powers that be have claimed his assistants for fairly glamourous cases: Karpo is seeking a weeping sniper and Sascha is trying to locate a car theft ring. Rostnikov is left with the "dregs" - the murder of an 84 year old Jewish man. The only clues -- one of the killers resembles a face in a 60 year old photo from the victim's youth and the killer took a brass candlestick.Karpo and the sniper is an interesting story with a good ending. Rostnikov gets into the action on the car theft ring - a story that ends with high drama (Kaminsky's screenwriter past comes through). And then, the case of the murder is closed without a solution. Rostnikov, never one to leave things undone, keeps looking in the killing only to unveil a most interesting tale.Overall, a solid third installment in the series. New readers are encouraged (strongly) to go back to the beginning (Death of a Dissident) as the evolution of the main characters is as much a part of the reading experience as is the solving of the crimes. And why read this series rather that the others? Half of what I like is simply the Moscow setting and learning about everyday life in 1980's Russia. The other half is that the main characters are really growing on me - Rostikov with his grit and intelligence; Karpo the stoic; and Sascha just trying to juggle his wife and mother.