I found this a pretty routine, unexceptional procedural. About the only novel thing in it was the fact that it was one of the first Soviet-era detective stories/thrillers to reach circulation in the west -- as the cover notes! The plot itself is pretty routine: a policeman is killed (his gun taken), and a gang that uses the gun in subsequent robberies is tracked. Some social moralizing in the book, though it also includes references to purges, interestingly enough. Not particularly recommended, other than perhaps a curio. ( )