The Winter Queen by Boris Akunin

Series: # 1 in the Erast Fandorin Series
Genre: Mystery
Publication Date: 1998 (Original), 2003 (English Translation)
Pages: 242
Challenges: Russian Reading #2, A-Z Reading #9 (W title)

I found this author when I was searching other book lists of participants in the Russian Reading Challenge. I didn’t want to read just classics and Non-Fiction for that challenge. I wanted to find a contemporary Russian Author. This one filled the need, but kept the classic/ historical theme in a way too.

This book almost has multiple personalities. It’s a contemporary author, but the setting is in 1876 Russia. It’s written in the style I associate with classic Russian literature – wordy, flowery language and a slow measured pace, but at the same time the plot is more like a contemporary mystery novel. It’s really hard to describe the book and therefore it’s also really hard to determine my overall feelings about it.

From the inside cover:

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.," whose signed photograph is found in the apparent suicide's apartment? Relying on his keen intuition, the eager sleuth plunges into an investigation that leads him across Europe, landing him at the deadly center of a terrorist conspiracy of worldwide proportions.

Fandorin was a likeable enough hero. He’s young (only 20) and incredibly naïve about not only life, but also detective work. The story was complex and filled with unlikely coincidences. I liked it well enough because it was different than what I normally read, but I’m not sure I liked it well enough to recommend it. Interesting and mostly because it’s different is probably the most accurate description how I felt about this one. I didn’t dislike it and may eventually give another book in this series a try.