The Rasputin Relic

A severed hand turns up in a safety deposit box that hasn’t been opened in more than 50 years. A note in old Slavonic on the wrapping says that this is the right hand of Rasputin—who was killed in 1916. Yet the hand is perfectly preserved and blood still drips from the wound!

The faithful believe that incorruptible remains—relics—have the power to cure. Yet in this case, those who come into contact with the hand begin to die of an unknown disease, a bizarre series of deaths that puts the chief of police of a small Pennsylvania town into a race against time.

Rasputin was a monk who became an influential adviser to the family of the last Russian Tsar. He was called a man of God with Christ-like healing powers—and also a charlatan and a drunken womanizer. Whatever he was, his is a lasting legend. As Chief Victor Rhostok investigates, he is pulled into a web of Russian mysticism and superstition.

In his search, Rhostok encounters Nicole Baron, a young widow. As he looks for answers in the no-man's land where science confronts religion, she seeks redemption for her sins at the hands of a priest who may be a false prophet. And in her past is the key to the mystery.

This is a fast-paced mystery-thriller from the author of The Authenticator and La Magdalena.

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CHAPTER ONE