The article analyzes the novel by Polish writer Piotr Głuchowski, The Dead Are Dancing, published in 2012. It is argued that this novel can be considered as a popular in Poland “urban crime story” — a modern kind of criminal literature. At the same time, the examined novel is based on the plot of a journalistic investigation, and the article analyzes the main structural features of such works against classic detective fiction and police procedural. The authors pay special attention to the setting in the novel and compare it with the real space, anddiscover the “Russian trace” in the history of Torun.