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Andrew Bromfield, Boris Akunin: The Winter Queen (Paperback, 2010, Weidenfeld & Nicholson)

Paperback, 256 pages

English language

Published Jan. 1, 2010 by Weidenfeld & Nicholson.

4 stars (1 review)

Moscow, May 1876: What would cause a talented young student from a wealthy family to shoot himself in front of a promenading public in the Alexander Gardens? Decadence and boredom, most likely, is what the commander of the Criminal Investigation Division of the Moscow Police thinks, but still he finds it curious enough to send the newest member of the division, Erast Fandorin, a young man of irresistible charm, to the Alexander Gardens precinct for more information. Fandorin is not satisfied with the conclusion that this is an open-and-shut case, nor with the preliminary detective work the precinct has done--and for good reason: The bizarre and tragic suicide is soon connected to a clear case of murder, witnessed firsthand by Fandorin. There are many unresolved questions. Why, for instance, have both victims left their fortunes to an orphanage run by the English Lady Astair? And who is the beautiful "A.B.," …

8 editions

reviewed The Winter Queen by Andrew Bromfield (Erast Fandorin Mysteries, #1)

A well-paced adventure

4 stars

I didn't realise when I read The Turkish Gambit (the second in this series) a couple of years ago, that Akunin apparently wrote each of the novels in the style of a different literary genre. I found The Turkish Gambit too slow, but this first book, The Winter Queen was much more to my taste. It's well-paced adventure tale that doesn't take itself too seriously so, although Akunin creates a good sense of late-1800s Moscow and London, there are also plenty of dastardly deeds and the occasional moustache twirl! For me, The Winter Queen almost felt like a steampunk novel. It doesn't have any of that genre's wild inventions of course, but I thought it does have a similar sense of fun.

Erast is nicely understated as a character, especially when set against the more flamboyant suspects in the murder case he puts himself to investigating. We get to see …

Subjects

  • Fiction
  • New York Times reviewed
  • Moscow (russia), fiction
  • Fiction, mystery & detective, general