What do You think about Pelagia And The Black Monk (2007)?
Overall, a witty & erudite book, crammed full of literary allusions andenough plot twists and turns to make you dizzy! Bishop Mitrofanii is a priceless creation and sister Pelagia is easily in that rarified league of amateur superstar sleuths, some of whose other members are Miss Jane Marple, Brother Cadfael, Sister Agatha and Father Brown.In THE BLACK MONK, Pelagia goes in disguise to a remote monastic island to discover the truth behind reports of hauntings and a curse. With her usual aplomb and sagacity, disguissed as usual beneath a facade of bumbling distractedness, she does. I'd give this one four stars, but to me it seemed as if somewhere about 3/4 of the way through, Akunin wanted to wrap it up and get it done with and the believability suffered, in my mind at least. Having said that, I would still recommend the book. This is a minor caveat,easily overlooked; but four stars is edging close to flawlessness.
—Mark
This second book in the Sister Pelagia series is a captivating mystery that kept me engaged to the very end, which was not at all what I had come to expect from the development of the story. I appreciate that Akunin has created a female protagonist who is intelligent and humble. For someone from a male-dominated society I think that is a particularly positive achievement. I hope that Akunin will write more Sister Pelagia tales. I would like to read them in Russian some day. I would agree with those who have also read the Fandorin novels that Pelagia is an even more interesting and likable character, a true heroine.
—Andrew
Hmmm. A different kind of mystery from the Russian author Boris Akunin, the pseudonym chosen deliberately to mimic Bakunin from the Revoluntionary Days. It is somewhat fantastical, but not the magical realism of the South American authors. I found that keeping track of all the characters with their varying Russian names a bit confusing. Alexi Stepanovich is sometimes called by that name, sometimes Aloshya, and sometimes Lentochkin, his last name. Of combinations of the above. And then the main character, Sister Pelagia is also Mrs. Lisitsnya, and sometimes even masquerading as a male novice monk! She becomes he then. Even though this is about a colony of monks there is not too much religion in it. There is also a psychiatric compound with crazy people in it. But I did not guess 'who dun it' and remained interested until the end. I will look forward to the discussion at the mystery book group.
—Sandie
