Peril

A Vasily Korsokovach Mystery

De: Christopher Jansmann

Narrado por: Virtual Voice

Spring: the season of renewal.

For Vasily Korsokovach, it feels especially true: newly reinstated to his original position after a string of successful case closures, his life in Southern California appears to finally be back on track. That’s despite having been the key witness in an Internal Affairs investigation that takes down his former colleague (and one-time lover) — a role that does nothing to endear him to the rank-and-file of the Rancho Linda Police Department — and the nagging concern that said colleague seems to feel there are still scores to be settled.

The promise of the season is shattered when a fatal house fire claims the lives of a couple well regarded for their involvement in Rancho Linda. From charitable fundraisers to stints at the soup kitchen, it’s clear to Vasily they were driven to give back to their community; their deaths are a huge blow to the small city. Sifting through the ashes of what he assumed had been lives well lived, Vasily instead discovers the couple’s final project to turn around the booster group for their daughter’s softball team had inadvertently placed them into deadly peril.

In a small city brimming with hidden grievances, danger is where you least expect it to be; despite all of his years of experience, it’s a lesson Detective Korsokovach is forced to learn the hard way.

Ignore At Your Own Peril

This is the second Vasily Korsokovach book I've listened to, and I've already downloaded a few more. The story of Vasily, an Olympic swimming champion turned detective in Los Angeles is really compelling. I listened pretty much straight through. I had a hinky feeling that Vasily should have taken his ex-partner's malicious intent more seriously. Vasily's character is super smart, a bit conceited (but with that gorgeous body and good looks who can blame him), and an excellent detective. However, his smarts seem to desert him when his ex-partner stalks him and the result is catastrophic. Vasily untangles another murder case, and the murderer is quite the surprise. The journey as Vasily works to gather clues and piece together the events leading to the double homicide is very interesting - Jansmann writes a good mystery!
I'm not happy about the AI narration. There's a number of mispronunciations, wildly wrong accents, and improper inflections. However, I've come to realize that using AI to narrate a book will likely serve more listeners, especially those who really can't pick up a physical book or e-reader to read it. I would hope that human voice actors will always be prized for their ability to differentiate the characters, to add nuance to scenes, and narrate different accents properly. A good narrator totally elevates the book.