This Sasha Perlov mystery novel "Death and Diamonds" continues the exploits of the Russian-born, NYPD detective, son of a Soviet dissident and grandson of the Hero of the Battle of Stalingrad. This time Sasha's Russian cultural and language skills place him in the middle of the murder of a young diamond merchant. The jeweler is a member of an exotic Central Asian Jewish community more Persian than Russian called the Bukharians. The group is linked by international police to Colombian drug dealers. One relative was shot to death on 47th Street in Manhattan's Diamond District before hundreds of unobservant bystanders. Is this second dead jeweler further retaliation by drug lords? Sasha's investigation takes him from the streets of the New Jerusalem (America) to the original Old City as he seeks informants and contacts. The case is baffling. How did a young scholar, father of five children, living in Brooklyn, NY become a diamond courier and for whom? His life seemed so ordinary until he started taking more and more trips to Israel meeting an enigmatic Ubecki multi-millionaire real estate developer. And what of the ties between this Ubecki and an evangelical Christian US Defense Department analyst accused of stealing classified documents from the US government and handing them over to representatives of the state of Israel. Was he being paid by this Ubecki developer to deliver diamonds? What when wrong? Sasha is relentless. He is never satisfied until the case is solved. He hates "Loose Ends" (the title of the first Sasha Perlov mystery novel). Spies, couriers, hush money and money laundering figure in this mystery novel. What the police originally label a simple street mugging becomes a case of international intrigue. And front and center is our man Sasha Perlov. The Sasha Perlov mystery series combines mystery, history and current events. Russian history is never far from the mystery. Stories of the Battle of Stalingrad from those who survived it are woven into the mystery's narrative. Sasha's mother's life as a Soviet dissident, imprisoned and tortured, are explored and influence his behavior and attitudes as a police officer. Real people play roles in the Sasha Perlov mysteries including Russian President Putin, Russian soldiers from the Battle of Stalingrad and the Russian dissident and current Israeli gadfly Natan Sharansky. Their lives are part of the narrative. Sasha is a man who straddles both worlds as do many modern immigrants. His perspective on being a white cop in a multi-racial world gives context to the ongoing discussion about white cops shooting unarmed black suspects. He and his partner Jimmy Sutton are not afraid of working the high-rise, low-income public housing projects of Brooklyn. These cops live in Brooklyn and see a multi-racial world on a daily basis. Non-whites are not strangers, not aliens, not criminals but neighbors. And as a Soviet immigrant, Sasha remembers his old textbooks that wrote about American discrimination against people of color. He doesn't want those old propaganda lectures to define his view of America. He wants everyone to share in his American dream of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
About the Author: Anastasia Goodman is the pen name of Harriet Grayson. Ms. Grayson has lived two lives as a novelist and playwright and a writer of non-fiction principally on small business issues, grants writing and fundraising. Her non-fiction books under her real name Harriet Grayson include the following: "Guide to Grants Writing for Non-Profits", "Guide to Government Grants & Vendor Opportunities", "Practical Guide to Events Planning", "Special Events Planning for Non-Profits" and "Government Opportunities for Small Business." Her travels to St. Petersburg (Leningrad), Russia and Israel helped to bring a realistic tone to the mystery novels. She has walked the streets of Jerusalem, rode on canals through St. Petersburg, listened to concerts in Asher Levy Park in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn and rode a bicycle on the Coney Island and Rockaway Boardwalks. Her own Russian ethnic heritage and her volunteer work with Soviet-era Jewish immigrants through Jewish Federation shaped the novels' narrative. Their many surprising stories about coming to America and what it was like to live in this country as a Russian immigrant provided insights that were incorporated into the novels. It's much easier to understand how Russian President Putin thinks and acts after spending hours listening to modern Russian immigrants. And there is this belief that Russia is not given enough credit for destroying the Nazi war machine. So the inclusion of remembrances from the Battle of Stalingrad feed the narrative. Equally part of the storyline is also the concept that Russians because of their dark history can never be grateful. Our Sasha is a product of old and new Russian currents and his new life in America.