It seems that Russian investigating magistrate Porfiry Petrovich pursued other lawbreakers, following the deranged-student case described so well by Fyodor Dostoevsky in Crime and Punishment (1866). In The Gentle Axe, (Penguin $14.00) British author R.N. Morris sends Porfiry out to untangle the apparent murder-suicide of a burly groundskeeper and a dwarf translator, found in a St. Petersburg park by a rather light-fingered former prostitute. It doesn’t take long for the Columbo-ish sleuth to link these horrors to a dreary whorehouse, a pornography ring, and a starving lawyer-wannabe–and incite resistance from his superiors. Morris’ delving into the squalid corners of tsarist Russia, as much as his quirky players, makes this an absorbing read. ~ Jeff Pierce

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