Dead Meat

1993

In this gritty novel, Kerr unveils the lower depths of modern Russia, where hard-currency whores ply their trade, children dabble in extortion, and a famous journalist has been dotted with bullets. Assigned to investigate possible corruption in the Central Investigation Board, an unnamed Moscow detective finds himself spying on a cop he admires and trying to pry a secret from the dead journalist's beautiful widow. With hoodlums great and small dying on the streets of St. Petersburg, all that remains to be discovered is a crime far worse than murder.

In 1994, the BBC turned DEAD MEAT into a three-episode TV series titled GRUSHKO. Philip Kerr wrote the scripts with Robin Mukherjee, and Tony Smith directed. A tie-in edition of DEAD MEAT, retitled GRUSHKO, was published in paperback by Arrow Books, Ltd.

Critical Praise

"In Kerr's literate dark novel, strains of romantic balalaika music blend with the sound of the sharp wind sweeping across the steppes. Readers are left with hope for more appearances of this new man from Moscow." ~ Publishers Weekly

"Poignant... This excellent novel is more than a tale of crime and punishment. Kerr deserves both bestsellerdom and prizes." ~ The Literary Review

"The most interesting thing about this book is its grim depiction of a desperate Russia in the process of being taken over by crime, graft, and corruption." ~ The New York Times

"This novel works both as a gritty cop novel in a unique setting and as a lens on a troubled and tragic country... [Philip Kerr's] research gives the book special weight." ~ Booklist