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.