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A stunning and epic finale to the series, pitting Fandorin against
both Ninjas and terrorists on the Trans-Siberian Express! The first
of the interlinked plotlines is set in Russia during the
Russo-Japanese War in 1905. Fandorin is charged with protecting the
Trans-Siberian Railway from Japanese sabotage in a pacy adventure
filled with double agents and ticking bombs. Then we travel back to
the Japan of the late 1870s. This is the story of Fandorin's
arrival and life in Yokohama, his first meeting with Masa and the
martial arts education that came in so handy later. He investigates
the death of a Russian ship-captain, fights for a woman, exposes
double-agents in the Japanese police, fights against, and then with
the ninjas, and becomes embroiled in a shocking finale that
interweaves the two stories and ties up the series as a whole.
RUSSIA, 1918 The young Soviet state is in turmoil. Chekists walk
along the streets. Hunger, cold and mud crawl away in the former
aristocratic quarters of Moscow. The old order has been turned
upside down, leaving room for political infighting and dark
subterfuge. This is the world Erast Fandorin - the celebrated
detective - wakes up to after three years in a coma. His faithful
assistant Masa might have nursed him successfully back to life, but
there is no guarantee that the old Fandorin, with his razor-sharp
intellect and superhuman strength, will ever be back. Determined to
leave behind Moscow - a city he doesn't recognise anymore -
Fandorin embarks on one last great adventure. But who can he trust
in a country torn apart by civil war?
Erast Fandorin returns to Moscow, and he just can't seem to keep
out of trouble... The fourth novel in the bestselling crime series
from the author of THE WINTER QUEEN. Erast Fandorin returns to
Moscow after an absence of six years, only to find himself
instantly embroiled in court politics and scandal. His old friend
General Sobolev - the famous 'Russian Achilles' - has been found
dead in a hotel room, and Fandorin suspects foul play. Using his
now-famous powers of detection - powers that belie his twenty-six
years - Fandorin embarks on an investigation, during which the
political and the personal may become dangerously blurred. With the
assistance of some formidable martial arts skills, acquired whilst
Fandorin was in Japan, our eccentric and ingenious hero must
endeavour to discover not so much whodunit, as why...
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Black City (Paperback)
Boris Akunin; Translated by Andrew Bromfield
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R319
R263
Discovery Miles 2 630
Save R56 (18%)
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CRIMEA, 1914 When the Tzar's head of security is assassinated,
Erast Fandorin is called to investigate: the killer has been
overheard mentioning a 'black city' so Fandorin and his trusty
companion, Masa, head to Baku, the burgeoning Russian capital of
oil. But from the moment they arrive in the city - a hotbed of
corruption and greed by the Caspian Sea - they realise someone is
watching their every move, and they will stop at nothing to derail
their investigation. Having suffered a brutal attack and with
Masa's life hanging by a thread, Fandorin is forced to rely on the
help of an unexpected new ally, and he begins to suspect the plot
might be part of something larger - and much more sinister. With
war brewing in the Balkans and Europe's empires struggling to
contain the threat of revolution, Fandorin must try and solve his
most difficult case yet - before time runs out.
From the writer who invented the popular Russian crime novel, Boris
Akunin, a gripping tale of political subterfuge and murder in
turn-of-the-century Moscow featuring the inimitable hero Erast
Fandorin Since the publication of The Winter Queen, a New York
Times Notable Book and the first mystery featuring Erast Fandorin,
Boris Akunin's historical mystery series has become a worldwide
sensation, selling millions of copies and propelling Akunin into
the ranks of Russia's most widely read contemporary novelists. The
first new Fandorin novel available to an American audience in a
decade, The State Counsellor tests the handsome
diplomat-detective's guile and integrity like no mystery before.
Russia, 1891. The new governor-general of Siberia has been secreted
away on a train from St. Petersburg to Moscow. A blizzard rages
outside as a mustachioed official climbs aboard near the city; with
his trademark stutter, he introduces himself as State Counsellor
Erast Fandorin. He then thrusts a dagger inscribed with the
initials CG into the governor-general's heart and, tearing off his
mustache, escapes out the carriage window. The head of the
Department of Security soon shows up at the real Fandorin's door
and arrests him for murder. The only way to save his reputation is
to find CG--and the government mole who is feeding the group
information. Can Fandorin survive corruption among his fellow
officials, the fearlessness of an unknown enemy, and the advances
of a sultry young nihilist with his morals intact? The State
Counsellor is a colorful entertainer from a master of the sly
historical romp.
Akunin goes noir as Fandorin meets bandits! Senka Skorikov, orphan
and urchin, has been abandoned to the murky world of Moscow's
gangster district. While picking a pocket or two, he glimpses the
most beautiful woman he has ever seen, and joins the gang of her
overlord lover, The Prince, so desperate he is to meet her. Senka
climbs the criminal ranks, uncovering a stash of precious metal,
and gradually capturing the heart of his beloved Death - so named
for the life expectancy of her lovers. But as the bandit community
balks at his success on both fronts, threats on his life begin to
pour in . A dandy and his 'Chinese' sidekick seem to be taking an
inordinate interest in Senka's welfare, and it becomes clear that
those threatening Senka are linked to a spate of murders, grizzly
even by underworld standards. Fandorin must unweave a tangled web
of narcotics, false identities and organised crime - but can he
survive an encounter with the ever-alluring Death unscathed? Find
out in the darkest Fandorin to date!
The Russo-Turkish war is at a critical juncture, and Erast
Fandorin, broken-hearted and disillusioned, has gone to the front
in an attempt to forget his sorrows. But Fandorin's efforts to
steer clear of trouble are thwarted when he comes to the aid of
Varvara Suvorova - a 'progressive' Russian woman trying to make her
way to the Russian headquarters to join her fiance. Within days,
Varvara's fiance has been accused of treason, a Turkish victory
looms on the horizon, and there are rumours of a Turkish spy hiding
within their own camp. Our reluctant gentleman sleuth will need to
resurrect all of his dormant powers of detection if he is to unmask
the traitor, help the Russians to victory and smooth the path of
young love.
Fandorin returns in a swashbuckling tale of abduction and intrigue,
set during the build-up to the coronation of Tsar Nicholas II.
Grand Duke Georgii Alexandrovich arrives in Moscow for the
coronation, with three of his children. During an afternoon stroll,
daughter Xenia is dragged away by bandits, only to be rescued by an
elegant gentleman and his oriental sidekick. The passing heroes
introduce themselves as Fandorin and Masa, but panic ensues when
they realise that four-year old Mikhail has been snatched in the
confusion. A ransom letter arrives from an international criminal
demanding the handover of the Count Orlov, an enormous diamond on
the royal sceptre which is due to play a part in the coronation.
Can the gentleman detective find Mikhail in time?
In the middle of the night, a disheveled and badly frightened monk
arrives at the doorstep of Bishop Mitrofanii of Zavolzhsk, crying:
"Something's wrong at the Hermitage!" The Hermitage is the
centuries-old island monastery of New Ararat, known for its
tradition of severely penitent monks, isolated environs, and a
mental institution founded by a millionaire in self-imposed exile.
Hearing the monk's eerie message, Mitrofanii's befuddled but
sharp-witted ward Sister Pelagia begs to visit New Ararat and
uncover the mystery. Traditions prevail-no women are allowed-and
the bishop sends other wards to test their fates against the Black
Monk that haunts the once serene locale. But as the Black Monk
claims more victims-including Mitrofanii's envoys-Pelagia goes
undercover to see exactly what person, or what spirit, is at the
bottom of it all.
Fans of "Sister Pelagia and the White Bulldog," the first book in
Akunin's Pelagia trilogy, will be instantly mesmerized-and
frightened-by this latest foray into Zavolzhsk's spiritual
underworld.
Praise:
"For all his status as a globe-circling bestseller, Akunin keeps
faith in his sleekly engineered and allusive whodunnits with the
classical virtues of Russian prose. . . . That polish lends his
books a peculiar charm."
-The Independent (London)
"Readers can hear echoes of Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoevsky and
Anton Chekov in whodunits that, because of their literary
overtones, can be guiltlessly consumed as entertainment."
-Los Angeles Times
"Pelagia's family likeness to Father Brown and Miss Marple is
marked, and reading about her supplies a similarly decorous
pleasure."
-"The Literary Review"
In a remote Russian province in the late nineteenth century, Bishop
Mitrofanii must deal with a family crisis. After learning that one
of his great aunt's beloved and rare white bulldogs has been
poisoned, the Orthodox bishop knows there is only one detective
clever enough to investigate the murder: Sister Pelagia.
The bespectacled, freckled Pelagia is lively, curious,
extraordinarily clumsy, and persistent. At the estate in question,
she finds a whole host of suspects, any one of whom might have
benefited if the old lady (who changes her will at whim) had
expired of grief at the pooch's demise. There's Pyotr, the matron's
grandson, a nihilist with a grudge who has fallen for the maid;
Stepan, the penniless caretaker, who has sacrificed his youth to
the care of the estate; Miss Wrigley, a mysterious Englishwoman who
has recently been named sole heiress to the fortune; Poggio, an
opportunistic and freeloading "artistic" photographer; and, most
intriguingly, Naina, the old lady's granddaughter, a girl so
beautiful she could drive any man to do almost anything.
As Pelagia bumbles and intuits her way to the heart of a mystery
among people with faith only in greed and desire, she must bear in
mind the words of Saint Paul: "Beware of dogs-and beware of
evil-doers."
"Critics on both sides of the Atlantic have praised [Akunin's]
clever plots, vivid characters and wit."
-"Baltimore Sun
"
"Akunin's wonderful novels are always intricately webbed and
plotted."
-"The Providence Journal"
'Akunin is an outstanding novelist...Fandorin is a beautifully
drawn character who more than lives up to comparisons with Hercule
Poirot or Sherlock Holmes...The characters are delightful and you
can imagine them in a Woody Allen version of an Agatha Christie
novel...Akunin's work is gloriously tongue-in-cheek but seriously
edge-of-your-seat at the same time' Daily Express On 15th March
1878 Lord Littleby, an English eccentric and collector, is found
murdered in his Paris house together with nine members of his
staff. A gold whale in the victim's hand leads Erast Fandorin to
board the Leviathan, the world's largest steamship, as the murderer
is one of the 142 first class passengers. Commissioner Gauche of
the French police has narrowed down the suspects to ten, and they
are forced to eat together at every meal time in the ship's Windsor
Suite until 'the Crime of the Century' is solved. But is the
murderer really at the table, and can Erast Fandorin discover his
or her identity before Gauche? As more passengers are murdered and
the Leviathan heads towards Calcutta, Fandorin needs all his
investigative skills to find the truth.
Canine conspiracies, spurned lovers, murderous greed, jealousy,
politics, power and knitting: Pelagia and the White Bulldog marks
the beginning of an addictively entertaining new crime series from
the internationally bestselling author, Boris Akunin. In the dying
days of the nineteenth century, the small Russian town of Zavolzhsk
is shaken out of its sleepy rural existence by the arrival from St
Petersburg of a Synodical Inspector with a hidden agenda and a
dangerously persuasive manner. Meanwhile, in the nearby country
estate of Drozdovka, one of the prized white Bulldogs - prized
because of its one brown ear, and its propensity to drool -
belonging to the cantankerous lady of the house has been poisoned.
The old widow has taken to her bed, sick with fear that her two
remaining dogs may face a similar fate, and the many potential
beneficiaries of her will wait fretfully to see whether or not she
will recover. Sister Pelagia: bespectacled, freckled, woefully
clumsy and astonishingly resourceful is summoned by the Bishop of
Zavolzhsk to investigate the bulldog's death. But her investigation
soon takes a far more sinister turn when two headless bodies are
pulled out of the river on the edge of the estate.
Boris Akunin's well-loved, inimitable hero faces two very different
adversaries: one, a deft, comedic swindler and master of disguise,
whose machinations send ripples spreading through the carefully
maintained calm of Moscow in 1886. The other is a brutal serial
killer, driven by an insane, maniacal obsession, who strikes terror
into the heart of the Moscow slums in 1889 - and who may have more
in common with London's own Jack the Ripper than simply a taste for
women of easy virtue.
Can Fandorin infiltrate a secret society to save Moscow's youth? A
dark and decadent detective story from the master of Russian crime
fiction. There's been rising concern in Moscow over a wave of
suicides among the city's young bohemians. An intrepid newspaper
reporter, Zhemailo, begins to uncover the truth behind the
phenomenon - that the victims are linked by a secret society, the
Lovers of Death. But Zhemailo is not the only investigator hot on
the heels of these disciples of the occult. Little do they realise
that the latest 'convert' to their secret society, assuming the
alias of a Japanese prince, is none other than Erast Fandorin. But
when a young and naive provincial woman, Masha Mironova, becomes
embroiled in the society, and Zhemalio dies a mysterious death,
Fandorin must do more than merely infiltrate and observe.
Especially when the spin of the Russian roulette wheel decrees that
our dashing hero be the next to die by his own hand. Can Fandorin
fake his own demise, all while outwitting the cult's dastardly
leader?
THE FIRST BOOK IN THE MULTI-MILLION COPY, INTERNATIONALLY
BESTSELLING ERAST FANDORIN MYSTERIES SERIES 'A sparkling romp of a
story' TLS 'In Russia Boris Akunin is roughly the counterpart of
John Grisham' TIME 'Think Tolstoy writing James Bond with the
logical rigour of Sherlock Holmes' GUARDIAN Moscow 1876. A young
law student commits suicide in broad daylight in Moscow's Alexander
Gardens. But this is no ordinary death, for the young man was the
son of an influential industrialist and has left a considerable
fortune. Erast Fandorin, a hotheaded new recruit to the Criminal
Investigation Department, is assigned to the case. Brilliant,
young, and sophisticated, Fandorin embarks on an investigation that
will take him from the palatial mansions of Moscow to the seedy
backstreets of London in his hunt for the conspirators behind this
mysterious death. What readers are saying about the Erast Fandorin
Mysteries: 'I loved it... I just couldn't put it down!' My book
Obsession 'A delightful mystery/adventure! There's a dark twist at
the end that has me anxious to continue in this series' Neil on
Goodreads (five stars) 'Ultimately, the overall success of The
Winter Queen is due to the vibrancy of its setting, the cleanness
of its prose and the magnetism of its protagonist... Odds seem good
that Akunin will be the next detective to capture readers' fancy en
masse' Sarah Weinman, January Magazine 'These books are a fun,
riotous read that you don't want to put down until you've completed
each and every one of them' Jill on Goodreads (five stars) 'The
conclusion is shocking and this reader can't wait to delve into the
next in the series' A Writer's Jumble 'Nail-biter all the way
through!' Corin on Goodreads (five stars) A page-turning delight
perfect for fans of Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot and the Russian
literary greats.
Dashing hero Erast Fandorin returns for another intriguing Russian
crime caper, from the bestselling author of THE WINTER QUEEN.
General Khrapov, newly appointed Governor-General of Siberia and
soon-to-be Minister of the Interior, is murdered in his official
saloon carriage on his way from St Petersburg to Moscow. The
killer, disguised as Fandorin, leaves a knife thrust up to the hilt
in his victim's chest and escapes through the window of the
carriage. Can Fandorin escape suspicion? A battle of wills and
ideals, revolutionaries and traditionalists and good versus evil.
Eliza Altairsky-Lointaine is the toast of Moscow society, a
beautiful actress in an infamous theatre troupe. The estranged wife
of a descendant of Genghis Khan, her love life is as colourful as
the parts she plays: her ex-husband has threatened to kill anyone
who courts her. He appears to be making good on his promise.
Fandorin is contacted by concerned friend - the widowed wife of
Chekhov - who asks him to investigate an alarming incident
involving Eliza. But when he watches Eliza on stage for the first
time, he falls desperately in love . . . Can he solve the case -
and win over Eliza - without attracting the attentions of the
murderer he is trying to find?
Sister Pelagia, bespectacled, freckled, woefully clumsy and
possessed of a not very nunnish aptitude for solving crimes,
returns in a tale of monastic intrigue, murder and adventure. Just
as the dust from the case of the White Bulldog begins to settle in
the small Russian town of Zavolzhsk, its sleepy rural existence is
shaken up once again by the arrival of a desperately frightened
monk who seeks the help of the bishop, Mitrofanii. The monks have
been troubled by visions of a dark, hooded figure that appears to
walk on the waters of the vast Blue Lake surrounding their
monastery. Sceptical of ghost stories, Mitrofanii sends first his
clever young ward, then two of his most trusted advisors, to
investigate the mystery. All meet with unexpected fates. Finally
Sister Pelagia takes matters into her own hands and, adopting a
number of ingenious disguises, she ventures across the Blue Lake in
search of answers. As she delves deeper into the layers of secrecy
that cloak the islanders, and as the body count continues to rise,
Pelagia begins to realise that an encounter with a ghost may be the
least of her problems...
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