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Extracurricular Akunin As in the case of Altyn Tolobas , the first of Boris Akunin's novels featuring Nicholas Fandorin (the great-grandson of his Imperial Russia great detective Erast Fandorin), the first volume of this two part follow-up is very much concerned with blood-lines, with heritage and with its relevance to what it means to be Russian in the present day. Like the earlier book this is brought out in Extracurricular Reading (as its Russian title translates) by a comparison in alternative chapters between Nika in the present day and the adventures of one of his other ancestors in the past. That ancestor this time is Danila Fondorin (a variation on the name of Von Dorn, Cornelius Von Dorn being the ancestor who brought the bloodline to Russia in Altyn Tolobas ), a doctor and former personal secretary to Catherine the Great. The historical part of the story however mostly focuses on another unusual character, Mitia, a gifted six-year old, well-read and with a prowess in math...

The companion volume to She-Lover of Death  - although both novels function completely standalone but for a few minor cross-references - He-Lover of Death focuses on another young innocent individual with a fascination for Death. In this case however, Death is the name by which a beautiful young woman is known, a consort of the Prince, the leader of most notorious and ruthless gang of criminals in the Khritrovka district of Moscow, while the young man in the thrall of this deadly femme fatal is merely a common street thief, Senka Skorik. Erast Petrovich Fandorin meanwhile is still persona non grata in Moscow, but his investigative abilities are needed more than ever, as there is a brutal murderer operating in the thieves’ quarter and red-light district of Khritrovka, a ruthless killer who leaves no living being at the scene of his crimes, a killer perhaps even more dangerous than the Decorator. Fandorin believes that the killer may be looking for young Senka Skorik, who has someho...

Drawn to the city by a young boy she has met, a young girl of a romantic nature renames herself Columbine and travels to Moscow from the provinces to create a new life for herself. Although her Harlequin turns out to be a disappointment, he introduces her into a secretive group that the whole of the capital is talking about - the Lovers of Death, a small group of sensitive poets, each of them eagerly waiting their turn to die a romantic fin-de-siècle death by suicide. The close proximity with Death inspires them to create fine poetry until the moment that Death judges them as being worthy of being called to be her lover. The sudden rise of incidents of suicide, the victims leaving behind a final flourish of a poem as a suicide note, hasn’t gone unnoticed by the newspapers or by the authorities, each of whom try to infiltrate the group, fearing that the epidemic will spread and inspire others to end their lives. Following the calling of another one of their number to the other side, the...

The former State Counsellor Erast Fandorin becomes involved once again in official affairs of the highest order when Mikhail, the son of Grand Duke Georgii Alexandrovich one of the eminent members of the Russian Royal family is abducted in broad daylight in Moscow, only days before the coronation of Nicholas II. The abduction has been carried out by Dr Lind, a ruthless and highly dangerous criminal that Fandorin has been trailing for a number of years across Europe. Even though he is at the scene of the crime with his faithful Japanese servant Masa, Fandorin is once again unable to prevent Lind from carrying out the kidnapping. The stakes are high in this Fandorin adventure. Not only is the life of a young Prince in grave danger (Lind is not usually inclined to allow his hostages to live), but worse, the, the ransom demanded, a precious stone from the royal sceptre, threatens to derail the imminent coronation and tarnish the reputation and international standing of the Romanov Royal Fa...

Altyn Tolobas features a new Akunin character, Nicholas Fandorin, the modern-day English great-grandson of the famous detective Erast Fandorin. A distinguished English historian, the news of the discovery of a piece of parchment brings Nicholas back to his ancestral homeland of Moscow on a personal investigation. The document appears to be the other half of a will he has in his possession written by one of his ancestors - Cornelius von Dorn who started the Russian line of the family - and Nicholas hopes that piecing the complete document together will reveal some great secrets in his family’s past. He no sooner sets foot in Russia however than he is involved in a lot of trouble. A powerful figure in the Russian mafia is also interested in the contents of the document, and Nicholas finds himself pursued around Moscow by a deadly assassin. Nicholas’s story is mirrored to some extent in alternate chapters by the story of his ancestor and founder of the family’s Russian branch of the fami...

Boris Akunin’s second Pelagia novel is even better than the first. Having spent a lot of time providing background on the characters, the period and their location in The White Bulldog with some long diversions into mild philosophising (entertaining and highly readable though it was), Pelagia and the Black Monk , as promised at the end of the last, goes straight into the mystery with little beating around the bush. That said, it’s a while before Sister Pelagia leaps into action, and only after Bishop Mitrofanii’s other trusted emissaries have failed – quite shockingly – in their attempts to uncover who or what is behind the fearsome apparition of a ghostly Black Monk at a popular place of religious retreat. Akunin handles all aspects of the thriller masterfully, with marvellous characterisation, borrowing from classic Russian literature, but putting a modern murder-mystery twist on proceedings, with plenty of cliff-hanging thrills and a genuinely unexpected outcome. Another intelligen...

Special Assignments consists of two shorter stories where Akunin’s detective Court Counsellor Erast Fandorin is called upon to solve two very different cases that threaten to cause grave embarrassment to the Russian Royal Court of the late nineteenth century. The novella format suits the stories, rounding out the background of the special investigator, his personal life and acquaintances and expanding on his abilities, while still leaving the author room for some flashes of humour, literary referencing and light philosophising. Showing some variety in style and content, the two detective stories however are minor pieces, neither of them particularly fresh or original in the genre. The Jack of Spades is an entertaining adventure of a cat-and-mouse chase between Fandorin and a clever conman and master of disguise who is not only making fools of the general public in Moscow, he has even taken in some prominent government officials with his schemes, leaving behind his calling card and ca...