To steal a painting from the Hermitage museum in Leningrad is going to take planning, nerve and ingenuity - and that's how Sergey Vasilefski does the job, unaided. But there's no way he'll be able to get the painting out of Russia alone...

The police come to suspect that members of the Baroque Circle - a cultural group on a visit from England - are implicated in the theft, and their suspicions deepen when a Circle member is brutally murdered during the interval at the Kirov Opera House. The President of the Circle is horrified - and so is her husband, merchant banker Mark Treasure, who suddenly finds himself in the most beautiful of Russian cities with a pressing need to uncover a murderer.

The investigating authorities are hot on Treasure's heels and he must work with pace and intelligence to protect his fellow travelers, even if that means teaming up with the greatest cynic in the KGB.

Executed with David Williams' trademark verve and wit, Treasure in Roubles showcases the eponymous banker sleuth at his finest.