Ex-CIA man Max Rushmore travels to a still-peaceful Odesa on routine
assignment. But things veer off course when the severed hand of the
local governor shows up in a vat of sunflower oil. Max stumbles across a
solitary toe, with the same tell-tale markings. The downsized
professional can't help himself - he has to investigate.
With the Russian threat in the background, Max's quest takes him down to
the crumbling underbelly of the beautiful Black Sea port city, once the
Russian Empire's glittering third capital. It leads him to dubious
businessmen, corrupt officials, catacomb dwellers, scientists,
pastry-chefs, poets, archivists, cops - and killers.
As global political tensions rise, Max begins to untangle the threads of
the case. But he is also being tracked - and not just by Odesa's network
of mafia-minded stray cats, who may be the only ones who really know
what's going on.
In this surreal contemporary spin on the classic spy thriller, Sally
McGrane pays tribute to one-time Odesa residents like Babel, Gogol,
Pushkin and Chekhov, creating a darkly witty, beguiling and bizarre work
of fiction like nothing before.
