The Turkish Gambit

by Boris Akunin

Translated by Andrew Bromfield

In 1877, war wages between Russia and the Ottoman Empire. Diplomat and police agent Fandorin is recruited to find the identity of and capture the mysterious Anwar, a Turkish spy who is intervening with the course of war in the middle of the operations. A young, headstrong and beautiful woman, Varya, whose fiancé is arrested for espionage himself, is pressed upon him as an unwilling assistant. She is pressed on all sides by gallant generals, war heroes, a dashing French reporter, and obsequious lieutenants.

Fandorin himself is mostly absent – he leaves for England and solves the case off-page, returning to arrest the culprit and explain his deductions. The main character this time around is Varya, who falls for Erast despite her modern sensibilities, and serves as a stand-in for the reader, a newcomer and mostly confused about all the goings-on. Despite Fandorin's demotion to co-headliner, this remains an excellent entry to the series. Full of exciting, larger than life characters and suspense on a grand scale, it’s a fun swashbuckling spy story a la Flashman. 

four stars 

Murder On the Leviathan

by Boris Akunin

translated by Andrew Bromfield

After a British antiquarian and his entire household are murdered in cold blood and a golden statue stolen, French police commissioner Gauche deduces that the murderer must be on the steamship Leviathan, leaving for Calcutta on its maiden voyage. An odd cast of characters fall into his net of suspicion – among them an Italian doctor, a mad British aristocrat, a Japanese man claiming to be a military man, a pregnant woman, a professor and expert on antiquities, and diplomat Erast Fandorin. Soon, though, the latter has joined forced with the Frenchman, and as secrets are uncovered and the truth becomes clearer, more bodies start hitting the deck. This is a totally delightful homage to the Agathie Christie style of whodunit. Extremely witty, erudite, full of twists and red herrings, beautifully paced. A real page-turner. 

five stars