Thomcat
3/18/2022
Subtitled "One More Last Rite for the Detective Genre", this mystery takes a decided turn halfway through the book, and was slow up until then.
A relatively quick read, though I got confused about the characters at times. I'm not sure the authors didn't have a similar confusion. Apparently on the first publication in 1970, the villains were changed from gangsters to neo-nazis. It was filmed by Estonians (Tallinfilm) in 1979, and like other Strugatsky titles, turned into a poorly rated point-and-click video game in 2009 (available today on Steam).
I liked aspects of it, but think the inspector could have made a better choice and still been completely within his morals. Some of the characters had a harsh description for no apparent reason, i.e. the stupid Kaisa. A sort of "where are they now" at the end was fun to read. I've read better mysteries and better from the Strugatsky brothers - 3 stars out of 5.