As my first Alexis J. Smith mystery written by E.E. Smith, I would have to say RUSSIAN ROULETTE was a pretty good novel to read. This story line had two separate cases for our private investigator to solve.

Alexis starts off visiting her old boardinghouse after being away for a while only to find out that her room has already been replaced. A Russian ballerina with the Bolshoi by the name of Katerina Shultzskya was now occupying Alexis' old room. However, there seemed to be something odd about this young dancer and her boyfriend Yonnie Petrovich. For one, was the Russian ballet company even touring right now? Mainly why do they drive an old Doubleday Dairy truck around town?

Alexis uses her many contacts to find out some very interesting facts that help her to get to the bottom of so many questions. Lets just hope she can keep herself safe and out of harms way at the same time. Things are not always what they seem. As soon as one case is solved Alexis is on another. Receiving a call from an old friend from Scotland Yard, Harry Hawkins, Alexis is asked to help find an Russian countess' dog that she claims was kidnapped by Humphrey Bogart. The American woman, Billie, who married into her place in society, seemed a little strange. She warms up to Alexis and even request that she stays at the estate with her. They become fast friends and Billie shares a lot of secrets with her. Alexis feels torn with things start getting a little out of hand. A mystery that starts out as a missing dog case turns into something much more serious and Harry is afraid that Alexis is traveling in dangerous territories that she may not be able to get out of. Count Brasov loves his wife very much and will do whatever he needs to keep her safe. Is he hiding something else? Will Alexis get in the way? Just what are the Count's priorities?

Smith did a great job with this storyline. RUSSIAN ROULETTE did keep me interested and my anticipation kept growing until the end. Her writing is different then what I usually read, but I felt that came from her experience of writing more plays. I love mysteries and I fully enjoyed RUSSIAN ROULETTE.