Peter’s Island, home to a long-forgotten Russian colony and a pack of wolves, is suddenly one of the most dangerous places on the planet. It’s only because he’s among the best in his field (Epidemiology – the study of diseases and how they’re distributed) that he’s kept on and soon finds himself taken from the hot desserts of Afghanistan to a frozen tundra in Alaska. After recklessly punching a superior officer, he’s stripped of his Major rank and declared an average citizen. Numerous factions are vying for control and once Nicholas II abdicates, the family is carted around the country before a swift execution and careless burial – if it can be called that – in a large grave in a forest.

The Imperial Family’s days are numbered and the political climate in Russia is chaotic. He utters a prophetic message to the Grand Duchess Anastasia and shortly after, he is murdered. Grigori Rasputin knows his time is coming to an end. The Russian people will rise against you with murder in their hearts.” “If any relation to your family takes my life, then woe to the dynasty. Naturally, when I came across The Romanov Cross, I zeroed in on it and needed it in my life. One of my favorite mystery/thriller ‘sub-genres’ if you will, is the survival of one of the children (and name me a little girl who watched Anastasia and didn’t fantasize about being a long-lost princess). Despite evidence confirming the deaths of the entire family, we remain a society full of What Ifs.

For decades rumors surrounded the survival of one of the royal children – Anastasia in particular – and it was only a few years ago that the rumors were finally laid to rest when, in the summer of 2007, the final two skeletons were discovered. Tsarist Russia holds a special place in my heart and the end of the Romanov dynasty is both fascinating and heartbreaking. If you’re a long-time follower of The Pretty Good Gatsby, you know I basically adore the Romanov family. A century later, acts of man, nature, and history converge on that same forbidding shore with a power sufficient to shatter civilization as we know it. Summary: Nearly one hundred years ago, a desperate young woman crawled ashore on a desolate arctic island, carrying a terrible secret and a mysterious, emerald-encrusted cross. Author: Robert Masello ( twitter ☆ website)

The Romanov Cross by Robert Masello