Диссертация на соискание ученой степени кандидата филологических наук

Bo'is Akunin's The Winter Queen was a very nice 'read' The Ш in a series Akunm introduces us to Erast Fandonn a young investigator newty hired by the Moscow police force Erast comes to the police afla^r his father's ramily'fortune tooK a dramatic turn ftr She .vorse that jolted Erast ou' of a life of upper-income leisure into a career as a detective'Young tenacious, intuitive, and more than a bit naive "Erast is assigned to investigate a clea* cut case of suicide On its surface, an easy investigation designed to ease Erasts's entry into Me as an investigator Of course, al' is noi «has it seems and Ei ast determines quickly that there is more to the case than a simple suicide Erast (and Akur«n) slowly peel away the layers of mystery and reveals in the process a vvoild-wide conspiracy centered on a series ot well run and maintained orphanages endowed by a rich influential English noblewoman Along the way Erast encounters love lust, gambling and avoids a series of death defying expediences Standing'aione the se'tes of events described above sounds rather pedestrian A well worn theme However the pleasure to be derived from this book is the setting, late 19th century Russia Akunin has a keen eye'tor deta;* and atmosphencs He conveys (as does the excellent translation) a sense of what Hie must have been lite in 19th century'Moscow and St Petersburg

The book ends triumphantly but Fandonn's triumph turns bittersweet n the last tew paragraphs Although th^made tor a disconcerting jolt at the enc of the book it is quite understandable when one considers that Winter Queen is the first in a long series of Fandonn mysteries A happily evei after ending would not'ieave much room for drama in the next installment

Some have compared Fandonn to SherlocK Holmes with a bit of Inspector Clouseau thrown in for good measure I think Fandonn's character stands on its own and needs no comparison to other literary detectives If I had to provide any sort of comparison it »vould be tc the protagon st in Caleb Carr's The'Alienist The characters and story lines are qu*ie different of course The comparison lies in the impact ot the hismnc locale (1Sth century New York City and 19th century Moscow) that forms the atmospheric heart of each book

All in all this is a very entertaining piece of myste-y writing set in an exotic locale It !s a perfect book to read on the beach, on a long plane r de cr sitting on a lawn chair ,n the back yard I look toward to the next installment in the seiies

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