When Jo Epstein’s émigré stepfather, Nikolai, is suspected
of murder and flees to Moscow, Jo jumps on a plane to follow him. For an
intrepid private investigator like her, this was another high-speed chase set
far from New York’s West Side Highway. For the author, it was a chance to
accompany my protagonist onto foreign soil in order to see Russia through her
eyes. It resulted in a whirlwind research tour, with Jo and me relying on our
instincts to ferret out what mattered most.
Fresh off the train from Moscow, we were escorted through
the prison yard at Vladimir Central Prison and up the stairs to a museum proudly
exhibiting the works of formerly incarcerated Russian writers. The sense of Russian
irony was compounded by the fact that, directly across the hall from a display
of 19th century instruments of torture, we found an art therapy
class in progress. Our guide proudly related how today’s guards and prisoners are
encouraged to express themselves through painting. While she spoke, my
imagination ran wild. What if Jo were incarcerated in a dank cell with
graffiti-covered walls in an attempt to prevent her from finding Nikolai?
The thing about traveling alongside a fictitious character
is that everything you experience is potentially part of her story. In Suzdal, we
visited a monastery with an underground cell where heretics both religious and
political were once tried in secret—and yes, this history-packed locale
eventually served as a setting for a pivotal scene in the book.
Jo and I then toured a Matryoshka Factory, with spinning
lathes and woodchips flying. Little did the skilled workmen and talented women
painters know that their nesting dolls would one day hold clues to a mystery
spanning two continents.
Back in Moscow, we dined at a Georgian restaurant with a Commander
in the Moscow Criminal Police. He waxed
nostalgic for the vory v zacone –
thieves-in-law— famed for their strict code of conduct. To my surprise, he
expressed regret that the brutal yet consistent rules of the vory were not followed by the modern
Russian Mafia. I consulted with the Commander about my antagonist’s background
and planned course of action. That he chose to bless my storyline was
definitely a high point of the trip.
With only 20 words of Russian between us, Jo and I were hard
pressed to decipher the Cyrillic signs in the impressive Moscow subway. We
worked out a deciphering system worthy of a spy novel—perhaps to be used in her
next adventure.
I’ve always been a believer in recycling and repurposing and
this inclination got a workout in Russia. Even the apartment we stayed in,
which was once a Soviet-style, communal residence, became a setting for a scene
in RUSSIAN RECKONING.
