Boris Akunin's prose doesn't tell you that The Winter Queen is set in 1876 Tsarist Russia, it takes you there. It slows you down to an era before telephones, when steel nibs were replacing goose quill pens; an era when the potential of electricity was being explored and advertisements for Lord Byron's whalebone corsets for men (AN INCH-THIN WAIST AND YARD-WIDE SHOULDERS!) appeared on the front page of the Moscow Gazette. The language itself becomes part of the story, keeping the reader delightfully immersed in the world of the mid-nineteenth century.And perhaps that is why the first sentence is the exception to the rule of minimalist openings:"On Monday the Thirteenth of May in the year 1876, between the hours of two and three in the afternoon on a day that combined the freshness of spring with the warmth of summer, numerous individuals in Moscow's Alexander Gardens unexpectedly found themselves eyewitnesses to the perpetration of an outrage that flagrantly transgressed the bounds of common decency."My immediate reaction upon reading this sentence, was to check the publication date to make sure that I was reading a book that had been published in 1998. My second reaction was an intense interest in what outrage had flagrantly transgressed the bounds of common decency.Our hero, Erast Fandorin, is an orphan who lost his mother early in life and his father shortly before the novel opens. Before dying, his father gambles away the family fortune forcing Fandorin to leave the gymnasium and forgo university to take a job as a low ranking police department functionary.(Fandorin is a Collegiate Registrar, fourteenth class. In 1722, Peter the Great had introduced a table of ranks, which is included in the book, delineating status and seniority amongst the different government services. As a Collegiate Registrar, fourteenth class, Fandorin has a rank equivalent to a Naval Ensign.)Only three weeks on the job, his boss indulgently sends him to retrieve the suicide note of the young man who "flagrantly transgressed the bounds of common decency" by committing suicide in the Alexander Gardens. A student at Moscow University who was heir to millions, Pyotr Kokorin walked up to a young lady and her chaperone, declared his undying love for her, put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger.But that was not the only strange incident to occur in Moscow on that day, and from his desk at the Criminal Investigative Division, Fandorin suspected something more complicated was happening. Stretching the approval he got from his boss for his errand, he begins investigating what appears to be an outbreak of suicide attempts.Following the clues left by the dead student Fandorin stumbles upon a salon conducted by a beautiful mysterious woman, Amalia, whom he describes as a Cleopatra. Amongst her many admirers, was the suicide, Kokorin, and his friend and fellow student, Akhtyrtsev, and "an officer of the hussars, a well-set-up young fellow with a slight slant to his eyes and a smile that was all white teeth and black mustache" named Count Zurov.Leaving the salon, Erast falls in with Akhtyrtsev who, over drinks in a seedy bar, provides information about the suicide of Kokorin during a game of American Roulette.This being Boris Akunin's world, it is called American Roulette until the actions of his characters cause it to be renamed:"Kokorin had read somewhere about American roulette and he liked the idea. He said, 'Because of you and me, Kolya, they'll rename it Russian roulette--just you wait and see.'"When Akhtyrtsev is murdered and Fandorin injured, as they are leaving the "iniquitous establishment" the investigation is taken over by a State Counselor, Ivan Brilling from St. Petersburg, who dazzles Fandorin with a display of deductive reasoning reminiscent of Sherlock Holmes; "It's the deductive method, my dear Fandorin."Under new leadership the investigation picks up speed and the suspect pool increases, leading Fandorin on a race across Europe to England.Beautifully written, with a plot that Ian Fleming or Robert Ludlum would admire, The Winter Queen is loaded with almost mischievous literary references and sly humor.Boris Akunin, though born in Georgia, was raised and lives in Moscow. He studied Japan in the Institute of Asian and African Studies of the Moscow State University. He did literary translations from Japanese and English into Russian, including work on the "Anthology of Japanese Literature" and worked on the Pushkin Library.After the fall of the Soviet Union, he turned to filling what he felt was a gap in Russian reading material. There simply was no decent, entertaining fiction. There were political exposés, of course, and the classics, which had always been available, even under the Communist regime. But well written fiction for pleasure reading was practically non-existent. He set about to change that, writing about a young man who solved crimes in Imperialist Russia. Part of his plan for the series is to include a novel for each of the 16 genres of mystery crime fiction that he has identified. The Winter Queen is an international conspiracy, the second book is The Turkish Gambit, a spy novel and the third is Murder on the Leviathan, a classic cozy mystery.
This book presents a captivating mystery set in 1870's czarist Russia. The plot follows the young policeman called Erast Fandorin as he is pulled into a global conspiracy following the seemingly unrelated suicide of a student in Moscow's Alexander Gardens. The success of his investigations could ultimate alter the fate of Europe and the world. The beginning of the book immediately kicks of the plot as a student wanders through the Moscow Alexander Gardens. But in a sudden twist of events, he commits suicide in front of a crowd of bystanders. This brings in Erast Fandorin. He is sitting idly, without any real cases in his sleepy police station. Upon reading about the suicide, his boss sends him to investigate. After having interrogated some witnesses, one of whom would prove a love interest to Fandorin, the young investigator is sent off on an intricate trail of clues, which would come to include a wealthy, English philantrophist, a cult of men garnering for the attention of a single woman, a dangerous gambling den, a murderous count, and a mysterious organization called "Azazel". The protagonist even has to engage on a journey across Europe and all the way to England, all the while having to survive multiple attempts on his life. In the end, the trail leads back to Russia and the most unexpected, seemingly sanctimonious of individuals turns out to have been pulling the strings behind the conspiracy. Ultimately, Fandorin is able to overcome the antagonist and he is even to able to marry his love. The happiness won't last as a tragic turn of events ends the book. Overall, I found this book to be a quite interesting read. The in the beginning it flowed somewhat slowly and was even a bit dull. But the plot soon picked up and and intensified with every chapter as the protagonist's journey twisted in the most unexpected of ways. By the end of the book, however, everything fit together in perfect continuity. The various elements of the narrative fit in very well with their historic setting and the author makes gratuitous use of expressions in foreign languages, including German and French. I would recommend this book to any fan of detective fiction.
What do You think about The Winter Queen (2004)?
How to create a quirky but brilliant sleuth extraordinaire: a recipe•ttake about half of Prince Myshkin (Dostoyevsky's gentle, unassuming, naive and ever so slightly nutty all round good man)•tadd a large dose of Pechorin (Lermontov's Byronic tortured hero)•tmix in a pinch of each of Colonel Nai-Turs (the honourable colonel from Bulgakov's White Guard who sacrifices himself to save his soldiers), Agent Cooper (of the Twin Peaks fame) and Andrei Bolkonsky (another prince, Tolstoy's this time, disillusioned but devilishly handsome, ambitious and proud)•tsprinkle with salt and pepper to tasteEt voila, you have one Erast Petrovich Fandorin, a corset wearing death defying favourite of gambling fortune, car enthusiast and lover of beautiful women. Akunin writes literary pastiche and plays with various styles and genres. The idea behind this series was to write detective mysteries in as many different styles as possible. Winter Queen itself is a conspiracy mystery, which may not be everyone's cup of tea, but if it's not, there is plenty to choose from in the series overall and the stories are sufficiently independent to be read without reference to the rest of the series.The above recipe is based on what Akunin states to be Fandorin's prototypes. Many of his characters seem immediately familiar, like meeting an old friend, and that is because they mostly are. It is great fun to try to spot the literary allusions buried in Akunin's work. For instance, the Winter Queen starts with a suicide in 1876, the year in which Anna Karenina ends her life and the first names Erast and Elizaveta (Liza) allude to Karamzin's Poor Liza.Akunin's books are not Great Literature, they are not controversial or life-changing or revelatory, they do not explore the meaning of "life, the universe and everything", but what they are is immensely enjoyable. Akunin has fun with his characters and storylines and you cannot help but have fun right along with him. P.S. I read the books in original and am not sure how much gets lost in translation. I suspect not a small amount, as I do think some of the nuances and humour would be impossible to understand unless one has some familiarity with Russian culture.
—Gloria Mundi
I don't know if the charm of this novel translates well into English, but in its original (Russian) language this short historical mystery is delicious.The Winter Queen (or as it was originally titled, Azazel) is the first book in a series of detective stories whose main character is Erast Fandorin. In this novel (set in 1870s Russia) Erast is a 20-year old wide-eyed youth who accidentally comes to investigate a strange case of public suicide. In spite of his naivete and innocence, Erast proves himself an astute detective and manages to untangle a world-wide conspiracy.The best thing about this novel is that while it manages to give a taste of Russian history, culture and mentality, it never stops being a first-class entertainment, dynamic and fun. I would recommend this book to anyone remotely interested in 19th century Russia, but who is intimidated by Tolstoy and Dostoevsky.
—Tatiana
I don't think I am actually that big a fan of the detective himself in this book. He was a bit dense and immature. What I did like was the era, the setting and the rest of the cast. I thought the author did a great job of making me feel like I was in 1876 Russia without being overly descriptive. I also thought the rest of the characters were quite interesting, the boss and the bad guys, the girl and her father, the femme fatale and the young men, all good. The end was maybe a little over the top too but all in all I really enjoyed this book.
—Dawn
