Murder on the Leviathan [Hardcover]

This is the third Erast Fandorin novel – the second to be translated into English (Turkish Gambit, the real 2nd, is scheduled for publication in December). Here, we see less of Fandorin than we did in TWQ, or it certainly seems like it. This is partly because Leviathan is told from five different perspectives. One is that of French “Investigator of Especially Important Cases”, Gustav Gauche (who definitely lives up to his name); the remaining four perspectives are those of four main suspects in a murder inquiry (two of these are told in the 3rd person, two in the 1st). Thus we see Fandorin through only their eyes, making him a decidedly enigmatic and intriguing detective.

The crime being investigated is the murder, in Paris, of Lord Littleby, collector of fine things, and nine members of his staff. (Yes, nine.) Due to a clue left at the crime scene (in the form of a badge shaped as a golden whale), Gauche deduces that the murderer will be one of the passengers on the steamship Leviathan – newly built and embarking upon its maiden voyage to Calcutta. He boards the ship and begins his enquiries, trying to sift out the murder from the 142 first-class passengers (yes, 142.)

As evidenced partly by the ridiculous number of suspects and murder victims (in the end it totals 11), Akunin is clearly having a good time pointing fun at the traditions of the detective genre. And he does it very well indeed. Leviathan is an excellent detective story in its own right, while all the while it gently makes fun of itself and the genre – as TWQ did with espionage fiction. It is a hilarious novel at times; a brilliant, incredibly clever pastiche.

Akunin’s main source here is, of course, Agatha Christie. The set-up is immediately recognisable as almost classic Christie, a la Murder on the Orient Express or Death on the Nile. He even manages to work in Cards on the Table and The Clocks (particularly hilariously!) among others, and that is on top off the usual Russian literary influences. For example, one of the periphery characters mentioned is named “Marcel Prout”.

Leviathan is an absolutely excellent novel. I would recommend it to anyone. It is not necessary to have read The Winter Queen, and I’d probably advise that you just jump straight in here. Akunin’s 2nd novel in translation is an incredibly sharp, teasing, funny, and ingenious mystery, with a great set of characters. A Japanese passenger, one of the four main suspects, is particularly wonderful. Certainly, it was his sections of the book I enjoyed most of all, highlighting fascinatingly the class of 19th century cultures. Plus, his sections of narrative are the only time I have ever come across a book that is part-written in what I can only describe as “landscape”.

I was drawn to this book because of the comparisons to Agatha Christie style crime fiction, as Im a fan of her work. I wasnt disappointed.

After a brief expose of the facts of the crime at the beginning of the story, we rapidly move to the central location, the Leviathan ship of the title of the book. Thereon in the characters/suspects develop nicely and with some interesting stories of their own, and the introduction of the 'hero' of the story, the detective Erast Fandorin is delightful.

One particular scene in this drama will remind true Christie afficionados quite clearly of something similar in one of her books and as a result will no doubt work out some, if not all, of what is going on and who the criminals are. This may possibly have been the one flaw for me - I delight in guessing incorrectly and having the truth revealed in the denouement in a fine speech by the detective.

I have kept this book and will no doubt read it again.