Mysterious Press 2017
Russia: Zakharov
Finland: Into Kustannus
France: Presses de la Cite
Israel: Books in the Attic
Poland: Swiat Ksiazki
Serbia: Bash Kniga
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The State Counsellor
Since the publication of The Winter Queen, a New York Times Notable Book and the first mystery featuring Erast Fandorin, Boris Akunin’s historical mystery series has become a worldwide sensation, selling millions of copies and propelling Akunin into the ranks of Russia’s most widely read contemporary novelists. The first new Fandorin novel available to an American audience in a decade, The State Counsellor tests the handsome diplomat-detective’s guile and integrity like no mystery before.
Moscow, 1891. The new Governor General of Siberia has been secreted away on a train from St. Petersburg to the former Russian capital. A blizzard rages outside as a mustachioed official climbs aboard just outside the city; with his trademark stutter, he introduces himself as State Counsellor Erast Fandorin. He then thrusts a dagger inscribed with the initials CG into the general’s heart, and tearing off his mustache, escapes out the carriage window. The head of the Department of Security soon shows up at the real Fandorin’s door and arrests him for murder. The only way to save his reputation is to find CG—and the mole within the government who is feeding the dangerous group information. Can Fandorin survive corruption among his fellow officials, the fearlessness of an unknown enemy, and the advances of a sultry young nihilist with his morals intact? The State Counsellor is a colorful entertainer from a master of the sly historical romp.
Akunin’s descriptions of characters’ appearances and temperaments, as well as the time period, call to mind Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes adventures. Narrative sleights of hand and copious red herrings will keep readers guessing until the end.
Readers who think State Counsellor Erast Petrovich Fandorin has encountered every kind of criminal plot imaginable can cheer him as he matches wits with a problem both more traditional and more modern: a cabal of up-to-the-minute terrorists in czarist Russia. Through every twist and turn, both Akunin and his hero maintain an imperturbable decorum that makes this the most ceremonious tale of terrorism and counterterrorism you’re ever likely to read.
Booklist
This rousing historical mystery, fluidly translated from the Russian by Bromfield, continues to draw its appeal from the Holmes-like Fandorin and from the author's antic stylistic flourishes.