Murder in Montenegro is the fourth volume in a tetralogy of historical fiction that follows the investigations of Inspector Vasiliev and Sergeant Serov of the Moscow police into the plots to assassinate Alexander II, the pogroms in Kiev, and the Siberian exile system. This last volume combines history and fiction through breathless adventures in the Balkans, Western Europe, and Russia. In the wake of the Russo-Turkish war, detective Vasili Vasiliev is investigating a gruesome beheading which might disrupt a fragile peace, as the Great Powers of Europe wrangle over Balkan territory at the Congress of Berlin.