Dostoevskii's 'Crime and punishment' as palimpsest for a novel writing aggressively against itself and its own species, a novel of a young man ruled by accidie who brings to late 19th century Russia the true teaching of nihilismThe novel was inspired by an offhand remark of Luis Buñuel's. He apparently disliked the linear narrative in Dostoevskii's 'Crime and punishment' and thought the book would have been much improved if, 'as Raskolnikov ascends the stairs to murder the old pawnbroker, a boy on his way to buy a loaf of bread rushed past him and suddenly became the focus of the narrative instead of Raskolnikov'. Thence a novel of a young man bumping into Raskolnikov and rushing off and never seeing or hearing anything even remotely connected to the events and world of 'Crime and punishment'1880s Russia, a young man deficient in both active personality and practical efficacy. A world infatuated with cruelty and nihilism, indifference enshrined as religion. Temporality and geographically enforceable space as rigorously drained as most remnants of morality and idealistic aesthetics. Surrealism without the lofty, generous estimations of human possibility

Dick Love is a 42-year-old detective from New York now living and working in London. And if given the choice he’d just as soon stay alive. He has a pregnant boxer relying on it.This book is a good old-fashioned read. Pure and simple. When a serial killer starts preying on young mothers, it’s up to Love, and his sophisticated partner Stuart Le Fanu, to employ their MI6 state-of-the-art equipment along with good old-fashioned detective skills to discover the identity of the killer before he can strike again. Enigma has the obligatory twists and turns leading up to a hair-raising yet humorous car chase through the stylish streets of south Kensington, London, in addition to placing the reader unreservedly in touch with real life. And that’s the crux. Wolf Black has stepped into his character’s shoes and brought them to life. He’s lived them, breathed them, adored them and argued with them. He clothed his characters with authentic attire right down to the sexy underwear hidden underneath their fashionable and not so stylish outerwear.His fictitious photographic Nicéphore test has its roots based in reality. It’s named in honour after the Frenchman who produced the world’s first photograph. You don’t need to search far in this book for the veritable tie-in. The author spent weeks trawling through London to find bona fide addresses for his characters and then went on to furnish the properties by patronising existing retailers. He pored over maps working out various routes his detectives would use. He calculated how long each trip would take and then undertook the journey himself. Half of the routes aren’t even mentioned. But Black needed to know. Because he wanted to lend credence to his story. This, he has achieved.Wolf Black is a pseudonym.