Wryneck — Kindle pre-order
The English e-book edition, in pre-order on Amazon worldwide.
Pre-order under Amazon reviewAn Olena Koval mystery
Wryneck
Mysteries for readers who notice details.
Wryneck begins with an apparently simple death — and quickly reveals a web of contradictory versions, suspicious silences and details that refuse to fit.
Olena Koval, a former United Nations translator and interpreter, spent her life listening to official speeches, delicate negotiations and carefully built stories. She knows that truth rarely appears directly. More often, it hides in small failures of language, misplaced gestures and words chosen with too much care.
In a room where everyone has something to protect, Olena does not need authority to investigate. She only needs to observe.
While others search for obvious answers, she follows what makes no sense — until the full picture begins to emerge.
And once it does, it is already too late to pretend nothing happened.
The book
Wryneck
A classic mystery with a European atmosphere, ambiguous characters and an investigator who does not follow protocol — because she never asked for permission to think.
In Wryneck, an apparently explainable death opens the door to uncomfortable questions. Versions do not match. Gestures say more than statements. And, between silences, lapses and small contradictions, Olena Koval starts assembling a puzzle no one asked her to solve.
She is not police. She is not a private detective. She does not pursue justice as a calling.
For Olena, every case is first of all a living enigma — made of people, memories, interests and lies that rarely fit at first sight.
Wryneck is the English edition of Torcicolo, the first published book in the Olena Koval Cases.
Where to buy
Choose your edition
Torcicolo — Brazilian paperback
The Portuguese paperback edition, printed on demand in Brazil.
Torcicolo — Kindle e-book
The Portuguese digital edition for Kindle.
Under Amazon review
Torcicolo — worldwide Amazon editions
Portuguese paperback and hardback editions through Amazon stores outside Brazil.
“Olena does not need to stand at the centre of the room. She prefers to watch those who forget they are being seen.”
The protagonist
Who is Olena Koval?
Olena Koval spent decades as a United Nations translator and interpreter. She learnt to listen in many languages — but her real skill was never limited to words.
She notices hesitation. Shifts in tone. Odd linguistic choices. Performed emotions. Convenient silences.
Olena is Ukrainian, cosmopolitan, discreet and difficult to impress. She has no interest in commanding a room. She would rather observe it.
Her invisibility is not a weakness. It is a method.
When everyone else looks at the obvious, Olena looks at the badly built sentence, the repeated gesture, the detail that should not be there. And when she understands what happened, she hands the assembled pieces to those who still believe in formal procedures.
Then, most of the time, she disappears.
The series
The Olena Koval Cases
Wryneck introduces the Olena Koval Cases, a series of independent mysteries led by a woman who has learnt that no version is neutral — and that every story changes depending on the language in which it is told.
Each case will take Olena into a new environment, with new suspects, new social codes and new forms of lying.
The books can be read separately, but together they form the portrait of a character who crosses borders, institutions and languages without ever ceasing to be what she has always been: a silent observer of human behaviour.
Torcicolo
Published in Portuguese.
Wryneck
In pre-order on Amazon.
About the author
L. Volochen
L. Volochen writes mysteries led by Olena Koval.
Brazilian and of Ukrainian family descent, she builds stories shaped by languages, borders, international institutions and characters who rarely say everything they know.
Her fiction combines classic mystery, European atmosphere and an interest in the ways language, power and memory shape the truth.
Torcicolo is her first published book in the Olena Koval Cases.
