Boris Akunin
The Winter Queen (2003)
Author: Boris Akunin (pseudonym for Grigory Chkartishvili)
Genre (and subgenre): Mystery/Suspense (Police Detective)
Plot Summary:
Erast Fandorin is a young clerk in the Criminal Investigation Division of the Russian police whose first assignment is a bizarre public suicide. The suicide is connected to a secret organization whose leader attempts to overturn the power of the elite classes and influences the course of the industrial revolution by placing well-trained orphans loyal only to the organization in powerful positions all over the world. Fandorin is naive and his investigation is advanced by several lucky breaks, so does not really solve the puzzle, he simply facilitates the revelation of the organization’s plot. Fandorin cheats death several times (his corset prevents a stab wound, he wins at “Russian” roulette, etc). The conclusion is shocking and emotionally charged, and marks a defining moment in the life of Fandorin, who continues as an investigator in other books by Akunin.
Geographical Setting: Moscow, London
Time Period: Tsarist Russia, 1876 (action spans about 2 months)
Series: Erast Fandorin Mysteries
Appeal Characteristics:
International political intrigue and conspiracy, (the antagonists who are the ones questioning the status quo), 19th-century Russia, City setting (Moscow), Mannered/high society, and a very strong literary style.
Read-alikes:
Akunin’s style has been compared to classic Russian authors like Dostoevsky (The author is also a literary translator). Tom Bradby, for historical suspense novels about international intrigue. Martin Cruz Smith for mysteries set in Moscow with a strong inspector/main character
Red Flags:
Footnotes to translate some German, Russian, French, Latin; also to explain Russian terms. A handful of frank descriptions of death and body parts/fluids, but not excessive at all. One suicide. No sexual subject matter, no profanity.
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