Roped into helping her émigré stepfather Nikolai escape the clutches of a ruthless blackmailer, Jo Epstein must enter a world where criminals enforce a 19th century code of honor, threats arrive inside traditional Matryoshka (nesting) dolls and fashion models adorn themselves with lewd prison tattoos. And even as she helps Nikolai — who claims to have been framed — to evade the police, Jo can't help wondering if her musically gifted, but socially inept stepfather is as innocent as he claims. ↵↵From Vladimir Central Prison to the brooding Russian forest, Jo Epstein investigates the world of the Vory — a criminal sub-culture as brutal as it is romanticized — while racing against the clock to solve crimes committed on two continents.