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Russian Series #1
The Blood Stiller
For fans of Steve Berry, Dan Brown, Robert Harris and Kate Mosse's historically accurate thrillers, a riveting page-turner questions if the Romanov dynasty really ended, suggesting the 'one designated by blood' may still be alive.
Ipatiev House, Ekaterinburg Siberia, July 1918: On the eve of his execution, in a desperate attempt to save the Romanov Dynasty, Tsar Nicholas II signs in secret his last Ukase, an irrevocable royal edict, bestowing untold riches and power on his legitimate heir, 'the one designated by blood'.
New York City, 1970: Christina Gartner, a young socialite divorcee befriends her new neighbor, Mme. Antonova, an elderly White Russian émigré who escaped the Russian Revolution with her two children. The charming Mme. A. captivates Christina with stories of her escape, but are they the truth?
The friendship catapults Christina into a cat and mouse game with a ruthless aging Bolshevik on the hunt for the Tsar's long lost and explosive Ukase so he can take control of the Russian government and the country's mining riches.
It's up to Christina and a NYC cop to find the Ukase and the secrets of the Blood Stiller, before the sinister émigré conspiracy in contemporary New York does.
Ipatiev House, Ekaterinburg Siberia, July 1918: On the eve of his execution, in a desperate attempt to save the Romanov Dynasty, Tsar Nicholas II signs in secret his last Ukase, an irrevocable royal edict, bestowing untold riches and power on his legitimate heir, 'the one designated by blood'.
New York City, 1970: Christina Gartner, a young socialite divorcee befriends her new neighbor, Mme. Antonova, an elderly White Russian émigré who escaped the Russian Revolution with her two children. The charming Mme. A. captivates Christina with stories of her escape, but are they the truth?
The friendship catapults Christina into a cat and mouse game with a ruthless aging Bolshevik on the hunt for the Tsar's long lost and explosive Ukase so he can take control of the Russian government and the country's mining riches.
It's up to Christina and a NYC cop to find the Ukase and the secrets of the Blood Stiller, before the sinister émigré conspiracy in contemporary New York does.
331 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 1, 2013
2075 people are currently reading
1270 people want to read
About the author
Minerva Taylor
8 books37 followersMinerva Taylor has been a freelance writer for twenty years, publishing international travel articles with historical background in magazines and newspapers.. The author, who grew up in a small Ohio town, lived in New York City for thirteen years. During this time she became friends with a circle of elderly Russian émigrés, including her White Russian neighbor, who provided material and inspiration for the book and lead to her obsession with Russian history. The author spent eight years researching Russia’s Revolutionary and Stalinist Periods. She has published three children’s books and has written the third novel of her Russian Trilogy, Blood and Oil; The Devil’s Tears. Her next book, The Paper Man Dossier is scheduled to be released this year. She is married with two children and lives in London.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 59 reviews
February 5, 2017
A well researched book about Russia in the early 20th century, and the ousting of the Romanov family rulers. The book "timeshifts" from 1917/1918 to 1970 to 2000 relatively seamlessly, following a New York divorcee's interaction with a group of Russian emigrants, and the search for a relic with great associated power. Trust no one.
August 18, 2015
Good read if your interested Russian history
Though it's a novel the author uses actual historical events, places and people.
I liked the way she used this in telling her story.
Though it's a novel the author uses actual historical events, places and people.
I liked the way she used this in telling her story.
October 8, 2015
This was a fun action/suspense novel involving the Russian Revolution and a group of Russian emigres in New York during the 1970s. The author clearly did a lot of research for this book, and it shows. Some of the writing is a bit stilted and choppy, but overall a very fun (and suspenseful) read!
March 12, 2018
I received this book in a Goodreads giveaway.
I'm not sure why Russian tragedies seem more... well, tragic! Whatever the reason, the assassination of Czar Nicholas II and his family has provided fodder for conspiracy and intrigue for a century now, and I'm all on board for every tale.
The Blood Stiller takes it on in a tale that unfolds in 1970s New York, when young divorce Christina moves into an apartment across the hall from Madame A, an old Russian woman. As the friendship between the two develops, Christina meets many of Madame A's intriguing and frequently ominous Russian friends and gets drawn into a dangerous mystery. When Madame A disappears, Christina finds herself questioning who she can trust as she tries to find the old woman and unravel the mystery she left behind.
There are holes in this story, but as long as I'm suspending belief to get drawn into the pleasure of another Russian revolution mystery, I can suspend it to overlook them. My initial reaction to Christina was to think she's pretty naive and trusting. Then, I remembered what it was like to grow up in the 70s - and we were all pretty naive and trusting. In our current century, Christina would jump on the internet and do at least a social media background check on people; she'd wonder why an NYPD police officer disappears for weeks at a time, and how he can spend so much time with her and never check in with his job. We've become much less trusting and we have more tools to do casual research. So, keep that in mind when reading this book.
In addition, there are a lot of details that just don't add up; again, the reader is required to overlook quite a bit, and some of the details can cause confusion. I found the somewhat mystical dream sequences (some in full daylight, when Christina is awake) mostly unnecessary.
I definitely want to read the next book in the series because I'm hooked in spite of the problems, and I would recommend it to anyone who loves historical fiction and conspiracy.
Now for my grammar/punctuation rant. Taylor seems to have severe problems distinguishing between possessive and plural. There's a paucity of commas that results in the need to re-read a paragraph, mentally inserting commas in order to make sense of what the author is trying to convey. It disrupts the storytelling. I actually went back to the author's bio to see if the explanation for this could be translation from another language, or the author being ESL. (Neither.) A good edit would fix these problems, and IMO make the book easier to read.
All in all, I would've given the book a higher rating if more attention had been paid to the details in both the story and the writing; however, I never had an urge to put it down or throw it across the room.
I'm not sure why Russian tragedies seem more... well, tragic! Whatever the reason, the assassination of Czar Nicholas II and his family has provided fodder for conspiracy and intrigue for a century now, and I'm all on board for every tale.
The Blood Stiller takes it on in a tale that unfolds in 1970s New York, when young divorce Christina moves into an apartment across the hall from Madame A, an old Russian woman. As the friendship between the two develops, Christina meets many of Madame A's intriguing and frequently ominous Russian friends and gets drawn into a dangerous mystery. When Madame A disappears, Christina finds herself questioning who she can trust as she tries to find the old woman and unravel the mystery she left behind.
There are holes in this story, but as long as I'm suspending belief to get drawn into the pleasure of another Russian revolution mystery, I can suspend it to overlook them. My initial reaction to Christina was to think she's pretty naive and trusting. Then, I remembered what it was like to grow up in the 70s - and we were all pretty naive and trusting. In our current century, Christina would jump on the internet and do at least a social media background check on people; she'd wonder why an NYPD police officer disappears for weeks at a time, and how he can spend so much time with her and never check in with his job. We've become much less trusting and we have more tools to do casual research. So, keep that in mind when reading this book.
In addition, there are a lot of details that just don't add up; again, the reader is required to overlook quite a bit, and some of the details can cause confusion. I found the somewhat mystical dream sequences (some in full daylight, when Christina is awake) mostly unnecessary.
I definitely want to read the next book in the series because I'm hooked in spite of the problems, and I would recommend it to anyone who loves historical fiction and conspiracy.
Now for my grammar/punctuation rant. Taylor seems to have severe problems distinguishing between possessive and plural. There's a paucity of commas that results in the need to re-read a paragraph, mentally inserting commas in order to make sense of what the author is trying to convey. It disrupts the storytelling. I actually went back to the author's bio to see if the explanation for this could be translation from another language, or the author being ESL. (Neither.) A good edit would fix these problems, and IMO make the book easier to read.
All in all, I would've given the book a higher rating if more attention had been paid to the details in both the story and the writing; however, I never had an urge to put it down or throw it across the room.
August 26, 2018
I won this book in a giveaway. It took me a bit to get into it, but once it got going I enjoyed it. The Russian history was interesting. I was also left curious, and would read the second book in the series.
One thing did bug me though-- in Madame A's journal, written in 1917, she describes her husband's mistress as looking like a gangster from an American movie. I checked-- the first gangster movie ever was written in 1927.
One thing did bug me though-- in Madame A's journal, written in 1917, she describes her husband's mistress as looking like a gangster from an American movie. I checked-- the first gangster movie ever was written in 1927.
January 10, 2017
The book was thrilling and boring in equal parts.The reader is kept in suspense until the very end, but nothing happens in the end either.
November 11, 2016
Fascinating book - I now want to find out a bit more about Russian history and then re-read the book. It certainly seems that the author did her research on Russian history. Kept me turning the pages and wanting more, even when I finished it. Can't wait to start reading #2 of this trilogy. There are many twists and turns, some surprising, some not. If you are interested in mysteries and history, I highly recommend this book.
January 23, 2019
Fiction or nonfiction?
Unless you are rare client in Russian history I would not recommend this book. It reads like a fairytale mixed in with possible true events and characters that are shrouded in mystery...for no apparent reason! The main character, in my opinion, needed to see a shrink!
One star because the author must have done a tremendous amount of research....too bad it wasn't formed into a readable story.
Unless you are rare client in Russian history I would not recommend this book. It reads like a fairytale mixed in with possible true events and characters that are shrouded in mystery...for no apparent reason! The main character, in my opinion, needed to see a shrink!
One star because the author must have done a tremendous amount of research....too bad it wasn't formed into a readable story.
January 31, 2017
So -did one of theCzar's children survive? Ms Taylor has written a historically accurate thriller with all of the trimming-The old White Russian emigres in NY, the spies ,the lies, the betrayals -always at the heart of every Russian novel. And leaves you a cliff hanger that just makes you want read Book 2!
April 26, 2019
The Blood Stiller Minerva
Christina Gartner, is recently divorced. She was a wealthy socialite and her divorce has left her mentally extremely fragile. A spiral into depression, a recluse. She now resides in an extremely small apartment with a very old Russian lady and her very ill and mentally unstable daughter as a neighbor. They become close friends and at this point the story starts to unravel. Madame A as she is called came from a very wealthy family during the Romanov dynasty. The entire royal family is murdered and Madame A's family, her way of life crumbles. Is she really who she claims to be or something more? As this story unfolds Christina realizes peoples loves are in jeopardy as well as hers. This novel touches on actual events and the mysteries surrounding them. Betrayal, bravery extreme hardship. A magnificent read!
Christina Gartner, is recently divorced. She was a wealthy socialite and her divorce has left her mentally extremely fragile. A spiral into depression, a recluse. She now resides in an extremely small apartment with a very old Russian lady and her very ill and mentally unstable daughter as a neighbor. They become close friends and at this point the story starts to unravel. Madame A as she is called came from a very wealthy family during the Romanov dynasty. The entire royal family is murdered and Madame A's family, her way of life crumbles. Is she really who she claims to be or something more? As this story unfolds Christina realizes peoples loves are in jeopardy as well as hers. This novel touches on actual events and the mysteries surrounding them. Betrayal, bravery extreme hardship. A magnificent read!
July 29, 2019
Interesting plot. Once someone mentioned the "illegals," I basically figured out one of the major plot points, but I kept reading b/c the general topic interests me, and I've lived and grown up among emigres and like their personalities (and side remarks, ability to hold grudges, etc.). It's not literature for sure, but it proved to be a good summer read.
The Kindle version -- at least -- has numerous typos, which I find distracting, and, if I were reading a hard copy, I would surely have marked the text to make myself feel better, but, alas, technology....
The Kindle version -- at least -- has numerous typos, which I find distracting, and, if I were reading a hard copy, I would surely have marked the text to make myself feel better, but, alas, technology....
June 29, 2019
Well researched
History of Russia was explained well. Felt this novel was more of a teaser for the trilogy. I began this book because the Romanov/Rasputin story has always interested me, so I was a bit disappointed there wasn't more about it. However, the book certainly kept my interest, and I intend to read the rest of the series. Language wasn't too bad, and violence wasn't horribly graphic.
History of Russia was explained well. Felt this novel was more of a teaser for the trilogy. I began this book because the Romanov/Rasputin story has always interested me, so I was a bit disappointed there wasn't more about it. However, the book certainly kept my interest, and I intend to read the rest of the series. Language wasn't too bad, and violence wasn't horribly graphic.
August 30, 2021
An intriguing mystery about what happened in Russia during the death of the Tzar, his family and Rasputin. Did they all die, what secrets did they carry out of Russia, did these mysteries still persist with the White Russians that were in the United States? A woman in New York happens to stumble on them with an old Russian who lived across the hall from her apartment and this totally changed her life!
November 27, 2018
Just finished reading this and enjoyed it a lot. Recommended for people who like well-researched historical fiction, action and espionage thrillers, or those with a particular interest in Russian history. There is gruesome violence and other disturbing material throughout the book. I give it 4 out of 5 stars, and look forward to reading the second installment.
March 8, 2019
Great Read
Absolutely the best book I have read in a long time! From the very beginning I was obsessed with all the characters and the actual stories of Russian history. I could not put the book down. Minerva does a great job of writing about actual history and bringing her characters to life!
Absolutely the best book I have read in a long time! From the very beginning I was obsessed with all the characters and the actual stories of Russian history. I could not put the book down. Minerva does a great job of writing about actual history and bringing her characters to life!
September 15, 2019
Once a White Russian always a Tsarist
Very exciting!! On the edge of my seat almost since the beginning.
I kept wondering why no one knew about Russia and the last Tsar and family, ( the protagonist was very naive) but the author needed to inform the readers who are not up on their history.
Very exciting!! On the edge of my seat almost since the beginning.
I kept wondering why no one knew about Russia and the last Tsar and family, ( the protagonist was very naive) but the author needed to inform the readers who are not up on their history.
March 17, 2020
A page turner, with Russian mystery
I really enjoyed the historical precision and the twists and turns for sensitive researcher Catherine. Every time I thought I knew what was going to happen, Ms. Taylor took me down a new path. Historical novels are not often good, especially those centered in a culture different than the reader. This is an excellent read.
I really enjoyed the historical precision and the twists and turns for sensitive researcher Catherine. Every time I thought I knew what was going to happen, Ms. Taylor took me down a new path. Historical novels are not often good, especially those centered in a culture different than the reader. This is an excellent read.
February 8, 2021
Much melodrama based on truth or speculation?
Russian mysteries surrounding the czar and his family are intriguing, but this story moves so slowly, often leaving the reader in limbo. But hang in there as books 2 and 3 of the series have more action, holding ones attention and seem to be more believable.
Russian mysteries surrounding the czar and his family are intriguing, but this story moves so slowly, often leaving the reader in limbo. But hang in there as books 2 and 3 of the series have more action, holding ones attention and seem to be more believable.
September 18, 2017
I had a hard time following the book. It switched too much between 200, 1970 and the 1920's.
I had to reread parts twice.
I did like the characters and the story line. I will read the second part of the series to see what happens.
I had to reread parts twice.
I did like the characters and the story line. I will read the second part of the series to see what happens.
February 25, 2019
Twisted
Thought there would have been a more satisfactory ending. I like to have at least one answer to the subject of interest. Not likely to read the other 2 as I they seem more like mysteries than historical fiction
Thought there would have been a more satisfactory ending. I like to have at least one answer to the subject of interest. Not likely to read the other 2 as I they seem more like mysteries than historical fiction
February 28, 2019
Russian history written with a good interwoven plot.
Russian history of the death of the Tsar of Russia and the royal family. A interwoven story of spies then and its after mat in the United States. It is a good read.
Russian history of the death of the Tsar of Russia and the royal family. A interwoven story of spies then and its after mat in the United States. It is a good read.
May 29, 2019
I forced myself to finish this book just to see if it lead to where I thought it was going. Extremely disjointed and illogical, particularly the main character 's "love affair" with Jack. Give me a break . Don't waste your time like I did.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 3, 2019
Historical Intrigue on the edge of my seat.
With a deep understanding of the real history of the end? of Tsar Nicholas II, this will inform, fill in the blanks AND make you want to finish the research that the whole needs to know. A must read for everyone.
With a deep understanding of the real history of the end? of Tsar Nicholas II, this will inform, fill in the blanks AND make you want to finish the research that the whole needs to know. A must read for everyone.
Read
June 24, 2019This is the kind of book I love to read!!!
The storyline moved right along from the very beginning I was anxious to get to the next part of the story but the ending was a little sharp. I hope the second book fills in some of the blanks!
The storyline moved right along from the very beginning I was anxious to get to the next part of the story but the ending was a little sharp. I hope the second book fills in some of the blanks!
July 3, 2019
The survival of an heir to the Russian legacy.
I Like the historical detail, the jumping back and forth sometimes was a bit confusing. The main character did not feel real sometimes, or maybe just shallow.
I Like the historical detail, the jumping back and forth sometimes was a bit confusing. The main character did not feel real sometimes, or maybe just shallow.
Read
August 25, 2019Part 1 is a winner, winner Russian Thriller Dinner!
If you like history, especially Russian history and you must have drama, and all written very well, Blood Stiller Book 1 by Minerva Taylor is a must read. Now I must go start book 2.
If you like history, especially Russian history and you must have drama, and all written very well, Blood Stiller Book 1 by Minerva Taylor is a must read. Now I must go start book 2.
October 30, 2019
Cumbersome
The mass of detailed history doesn't make for much of a novel. Boring characters -- especially the main narrator. Minimal action. Even when author leaves the book up in the air, I have no interest in pursuing the sequels.
The mass of detailed history doesn't make for much of a novel. Boring characters -- especially the main narrator. Minimal action. Even when author leaves the book up in the air, I have no interest in pursuing the sequels.
November 24, 2019
A BOOK I'LL NEVER FORGET
The unpredictable twist and turns, the movements between 1970 and 2001, wouldn't allow me to put the book aside and sleep! That says it all! I am anxiously waiting to begin the second book of this trilogy. So, goodbye.
The unpredictable twist and turns, the movements between 1970 and 2001, wouldn't allow me to put the book aside and sleep! That says it all! I am anxiously waiting to begin the second book of this trilogy. So, goodbye.
April 6, 2020
Gripping mystery that left me wanting to know more.
If you like historical mystery novels this series is for you. Based on facts peppered with rumor and innuendo and a secondary plot to make this book an excellent read.
If you like historical mystery novels this series is for you. Based on facts peppered with rumor and innuendo and a secondary plot to make this book an excellent read.
April 23, 2020
This mystery really kept me enthralled from beginning to end. The detail in the various explanationonsions
Showed a great deal of research . I look forward to reading the remainder of this trilogy. Where do people come up with this stuff?
Showed a great deal of research . I look forward to reading the remainder of this trilogy. Where do people come up with this stuff?
Displaying 1 - 30 of 59 reviews