Book Log 2008 #46: USSA by David Madsen

In this book, the US has won WWIII and occupied Russia. A large displaced persons camp rings Moscow, and large areas of the country are off limits due to radiation. The espionage market has dried up, forcing many cashiered spies into working on corporate cases. Among the lower tier of such spies is Dean Joplin, whose luck turns when an officer of the occupation police hires him to conduct an off the books investigation of a murder in a new luxury hotel.

From there things progress as you might expect in a spy thriller/mystery. There are a few places where you'll find echoes of future Arkady Renko plots, but this book never comes close to the excellence of that series. It's not a bad book, but it never quite uses it's setting as well as it could have. The depiction of the occupation police officer and his family is also kind of off-putting, which doesn't help.

I don't think it's quite worth seeking out, but may be worth a browse for alt-history types.