The Winter Queen (An Erast Fandorin mystery) (Hardcover)

Akunin is one of the leading lights in a new wave of writers emerging from the former Soviet Union. Crime fiction had been proscribed under the Communists - it was bourgeois and crime was not supposed to be happening. With the collapse of the regime, however, it quickly became the most popular form of literature, with pulp presses churning out a supply to meet the demand.

Hence the rapidity with which "Winter Queen" was produced. Published as "Azazel" in Russia in 1998, "The Winter Queen" represents the first of a dozen and more titles by Akunin featuring his indestructible hero, Erast Fandorin. Written in just six weeks, it became a major best-seller in Russia and rapidly attracted Western attention - film rights have been sold.

Not that it, in any way, appears hurried, sloppy, or amateurish in construction. Akunin's hero is a young man, newly enlisted in the police force of the 1870's. This is a world with no forensic science, a rigid social structure and rigid proprieties, and police investigation techniques which respect the intuition of the intelligent amateur or newcomer. Fandorin is inexperienced, naive, downwardly mobile (the family fortune having evaporated), but cultured, intelligent, diligent, and desperately enthusiastic. He doesn't so much want to impress as want to succeed ... by a process of blind self-confidence and a youthful self-delusion that he is acting logically and scientifically.

Fandorin is invited to investigate the suicide of a rich student. The young man has blown his brains out in public. How can this be suicide? Fandorin quickly exposes the murderous intrigue which has led to the death ... and opens up a can of worms which will have him crossing Europe in search of a mastermind ... or maybe even the godfathers behind a terrorist plot.

It's a well-paced, somewhat tongue-in-cheek adventure. Akunin describes his influences as being characters from the classics of Russian literature, and his choice of 19th century settings reflects his ironic recognition that pulp fiction sells but the classics of 19th century Russian literature are revered.

So Fandorin embodies much of the innocence of youthful characters in the 19th century. He's a gentleman copper who blunders along doggedly, riding his luck and living by his wits. Akunin echoes the styles of Gogol, Turgenev, Tolstoy, but there are elements of "The Winter Queen" which are pure historical romance. And, of course, there are elements which are unique to Akunin's own style ... and elements which are wicked parodies of Western writing (Fandorin is plagued by evil foreign villains, he emulates James Bond, but is far too moral to take advantage of any of the female characters, and the policeman-turned-spy rigidly upholds the status quo and Russian State in the face of democratic, egalitarian, or socialist ideals). The student, whose death sparks the investigation, even kills himself by playing 'American Roulette'.

Fandorin is an interesting and amusing creation: "The Winter Queen" is a very readable, page-turner of a book. Fast paced, bouncing from cliff hanger to cliff hanger, it may lack a degree of sophistication in its plot and characterisation, but for a first novel from a writer learning to explore a new genre, it is an exciting start.

Andrew Bromfield's translation drives the narrative along and successfully captures the sense of another era and another place, and he deserves credit for making the series so entertaining. The second of the series in Russia was "Turkish Gambit", but for some reason "Leviathan" became number two here. I recommend sticking to the Russian order if you become a fan.