This is the first book from Akunin I've read and I really liked it. Usually I can't bring myself to read English translations from Russian - I don't know, there's something missing in them, I think it's the innate humor of the Russian language - but this translation was very good and read really ...
For people tired of the quick-cut-styled screen-written books by "New York Times Best Selling Authors" (which I am not sure is a praise anymore), Akunin offers a fresh breath of air with his innovative story-telling yet again. Half the book is in reported speech, filled with letters and notes, wh...
In this the eighth installment of the Erast Fandorin series, the author changes his usual narrative style to tell this story via several different points of view. A young girl's journal, newspapers, the reports of an undercover agent, and even poetry all come together to weave a somewhat bizarre...
After that they set off by land, through the Forest.It didn’t have a name—just “the Forest,” that was all. At first deciduous, then mixed, then almost entirely coniferous, the Forest extended for a hundred miles as far as the Urals Crest, crept over the mountains, and, on emerging into the wide o...
What good are you to me?’The Prince rubbed the dimple in his chin furiously and gave Senka a scorching glance from his black eyes. Senka cringed, but this was no time to be shy. ‘She told me, “Go to him, Speedy, don’t you have no doubts, you’ll definitely be useful to the Prince, I ought to know,...
Korovin arrived, in fact on the very evening before, the bishop and Sister Pelagia had a conversation about men and women. In fact, His Grace and his spiritual daughter argued about this subject quite often, but on this occasion the pretext for their clash happened to be the question of strength ...
From Columbine’s Diary She arrived in the City of Dreams on a quiet lilac evening Everything had been thought through in advance, down to the smallest detail.After alighting from the Irkutsk train at the platform of Moscow’s Ryazan station, Masha stood there for half a minute with her eyes squeez...
The high police master of Moscow was instructed to provide every possible assistance, while Fandorinwas assigned the rather indefinite role of adviser, and even then only at the stubborn insistence of Georgii Alexandrovich who, following the rescue of his daughter, believed fervently in the excep...
He walked round the house – if he was going to climb in through a window, it would be best to do it at the back, so that he would not be seen by some chance passer-by.Behind the house he found a garden wrapped in dense shade – just what he needed.Going up on tiptoe, the adventurer glanced into th...
It came in a concerted, copious, merry downpour, instantly making clear that it intended to soak every last thread, not only of the nun’s habit and headscarf, but also of her undershirt, and even of the knitting in the bag at her waist. Pelagia took fright. She glanced around to make sure that no...
Chapter Eight IN WHICH VARYA SEES THE ANGEL OF DEATH The Government Herald (St Petersburg) 30 July (11 August) 1877 Defying excruciating bouts of epidemic gastritis and bloody diarrhoea, our Sovereign has spent the last few days visiting hospitals that are filled to overflowing with typhus victim...
They left their horses in a copse at the bottom of the cliff. Down below in the valley, there were only scattered points of light — Semigorsk was already sleeping. Transparent clouds skidded across the greenish black sky, and the night constantly changed from bright to dark and back again. The pl...
'This is absolutely impermissible. You are bringing the authorities into disrepute!' Burlyaev turned his head in fury and was clearly about to put the insolent subordinate in his place, but at that point Erast Petrovich struck his cane against the floor and said in a commanding voice: 'Stop this!...
. . For reasons unknown all the household staff were gathered in the pantry, which is located on the ground floor of the mansion to the left of the entrance hall (room 3 on diagram 1). The precise locations of the bodies are indicated on diagram 4, in which: No. 1 is the body of the butler, Etien...
meseca, 18. dana Nadomak južnog vrha Indijskog poluostrva Već je dva dana kako smo napustili Bombaj, a ja za sve ovo vreme nisam otvarao svoj dnevnik. Ovo mi se dešava prvi put u životu; pa, ja sam postavio sebi čvrsto pravilo da pišem svaki dan. Ipak, prekid sam napravio namerno. Morao sam da sr...
His mission was simple enough in principle but would require a certain degree of luck: to locate a rather ordinary-looking, somewhat pimply student with a slouch and a pince-nez on a silk ribbon. It was entirely possible that this suspicious individual did not study at the premises on Mokhovaya S...