Korolev nodded, thinking of the dead girl, and wondering whether, these days, it was such a good thing to be Commissar Ezhov's friend ...Russia, 1937. In Moscow, Stalin's purges are reaching their darkest hour. Meanwhile Korolev, a police investigator, must travel to the bleak, battle-scarred Ukraine — scene of some of Stalin's bloodiest crimes — to look into the mysterious death of a young woman. The victim, a beautiful film production assistant, had made both powerful friends and terrible enemies ...