About the Book

First the ladder disappeared. Then the pigeons died. Then Fund 47 emerged, into which the foreign-currency levies of all the republics of the former Yugoslavia flowed. Criminal inspector Robert Obrh, a familiar figure from Čmrljev žleb, has never encountered anything so enigmatic in his not particularly long or especially distinguished career. But that is only because he has never before met a man like the “Yugoslav Christiaan Barnard”: the retired cardiac surgeon Dr. Vladimir Baumgartner, who may once (or perhaps may not) have extended the life of Tito himself.

“Ushabti” is the term for a small figurine, a funerary object from the era of the Ancient Egyptian Kingdom—something that today is at the very least improper, if not outright forbidden, to keep at home. In essence, it is a servant who accompanies its master to the end—into death and beyond, if need be… Who, then, serves whom? Is this even still a crime novel? Or perhaps an account of a certain manipulation? The answers lie in reading this intelligent novel, which refuses to be confined to any single genre.