Boris Akunin Books In Order

Erast Fandorin Mysteries Books In Publication Order

The Winter Queen (1998)
The Turkish Gambit (1998)
Murder on the Leviathan / Leviathan (1998)
The Death of Achilles (1998)
Special Assignments (2007)
The State Counsellor (2008)
The Coronation (2009)
She Lover of Death (2009)
He Lover of Death (2010)
The Diamond Chariot (2011)
All The World’s a Stage (2017)
Black City (2018)
Not Saying Goodbye (2019)

Sister Pelagia Mysteries Books In Publication Order

Sister Pelagia and the White Bulldog (2006)
Sister Pelagia and the Black Monk / Pelagia and the Black Monk (2007)
Pelagia and the Red Rooster / Sister Pelagia and the Red Co*ckerel (2008)

Standalone Plays In Publication Order

To Kill a Serpent in the Shell (2018)

Erast Fandorin Mysteries Book Covers

Sister Pelagia Mysteries Book Covers

Standalone Plays Book Covers

To Kill a Serpent in the Shell
(2018)

Boris Akunin Books Overview

The Winter Queen

Moscow, May 1876: What would cause a talented young student from a wealthy family to shoot himself in front of a promenading public in the Alexander Gardens? Decadence and boredom, most likely, is what the commander of the Criminal Investigation Division of the Moscow Police thinks, but still he finds it curious enough to send the newest member of the division, Erast Fandorin, a young man of irresistible charm, to the Alexander Gardens precinct for more information. Fandorin is not satisfied with the conclusion that this is an open and shut case, nor with the preliminary detective work the precinct has done and for good reason: The bizarre and tragic suicide is soon connected to a clear case of murder, witnessed firsthand by Fandorin. There are many unresolved questions. Why, for instance, have both victims left their fortunes to an orphanage run by the English Lady Astair? And who is the beautiful A.B., whose signed photograph is found in the apparent suicide’s apartment? Relying on his keen intuition, the eager sleuth plunges into an investigation that leads him across Europe, landing him at the deadly center of a terrorist conspiracy of worldwide proportions. In this thrilling mystery that brings nineteenth century Russia to vivid life, Akunin has created one of the most eagerly anticipated novels in years. From the Hardcover edition.

The Turkish Gambit

An elegantly spun yarn…
Akunin’s wonderful novels are always intricately webbed and plotted. The Providence JournalIt is 1877, and war has broken out between Russia and the Ottoman Empire. In the treacherous atmosphere of a Russian field army, former diplomat and detective extraordinaire Erast Fandorin stumbles upon his most confounding case. Its difficulties are only compounded by the presence of Varya Suvorova, a deadly serious and seriously beautiful woman with revolutionary ideals who has disguised herself as a boy in order to reunite with her respected comrade and fianc . Even after Fandorin saves her life, Varya can hardly bear to thank such a lackey of the throne for his efforts. When Varya s fianc is accused of espionage and faces execution, however, she must turn to Fandorin to find the real culprit…
a mission that forces her to reckon with his courage, deductive mind, and piercing gaze.

Murder on the Leviathan / Leviathan

Paris, 1878: Eccentric antiquarian Lord Littleby and his ten servants are found murdered in Littleby’s mansion on the rue de Grenelle, and a priceless Indian shawl is missing. Police commissioner Papa Gauche recovers only one piece of evidence from the crime scene: a golden key shaped like a whale. Gauche soon deduces that the key is in fact a ticket of passage for the Leviathan, a gigantic steamship soon to depart Southampton on its maiden voyage to Calcutta. The murderer must be among its passengers. In Cairo, the ship is boarded by a young Russian diplomat with a shock of white hair none other than Erast Fandorin, the celebrated detective of Boris Akunin s The Winter Queen. The sleuth joins forces with Gauche to determine which of ten unticketed passengers on the Leviathan is the rue de Grenelle killer. Tipping his hat to Agatha Christie, Akunin assembles a colorful cast of suspects including a secretive Japanese doctor, a professor who specializes in rare Indian artifacts, a pregnant Swiss woman, and an English aristocrat with an appetite for collecting Asian treasures all of whom are con?ned together until the crime is solved. As the Leviathan steams toward Calcutta, will Fandorin be able to out investigate Gauche and discover who the killer is, even as the ship s passengers are murdered, one by one? Already an international sensation, Boris Akunin s latest page turner transports the reader back to the glamorous, dangerous past in a richly atmospheric tale of suspense on the high seas. From the Hardcover edition.

The Death of Achilles

In 1882, after six years of foreign travel and adventure, renowned diplomat and detective Erast Fandorin returns to Moscow in the heart of Mother Russia. His Moscow homecoming is anything but peaceful. In the hotel where he and his loyal if impertinent manservant Masa are staying, Fandorin’s old war hero friend General Michel Sobolev Achilles to the crowd has been found dead, felled in his armchair by an apparent heart attack. But Fandorin suspects an unnatural cause. His suspicions lead him to the boudoir of the beautiful singer not exactly a courtesan known as Wanda. Apparently, in Wanda s bed, the general secretly breathed his last…
.

Special Assignments

In Special Assignments, Erast Fandorin, nineteenth century Russia’s suavest sleuth, faces two formidable new foes: One steals outrageous sums of money, the other takes lives. The Jack of Spades is a civilized swindler who has conned thousands of rubles from Moscow s residents including Fandorin s own boss, Prince Dolgorukoi. To catch him, Fandorin and his new assistant, timid young policeman Anisii Tulipov, must don almost as many disguises as the grifter does himself. The Decorator is a different case altogether: A savage serial killer who believes he cleans the women he mutilates and takes his orders from on high, he must be given Fandorin s most serious attentions. Peopled by a rich cast of eccentric characters, and with plots that are as surprising as they are inventive, Special Assignments will delight Akunin s many fans, while challenging the gentleman sleuth s brilliant powers of detection. Praise from England: Boris Akunin s wit and invention are a source of constant wonder. Evening Standard Fandorin is a debonair combo of Sherlock Holmes, D Artagnan and most of the soulful heroes of Russian literature…
. This pair of perfectly balanced stories permit the character of Fandorin to grow. The Sunday Telegraph Agatha Christie meets James Bond: Akunin s plots are intricate and tantalizing…
. These stories are unputdownable and great fun. Sunday Express The beguiling, super brainy, sexy, unpredictable Fandorin is a creation like no other in crime fiction. The Times

She Lover of Death

There’s been rising concern in Moscow over a wave of suicides among the city’s young bohemians. An intrepid newspaper reporter, Zhemailo, begins to uncover the truth behind the phenomenon that the victims are linked by a secret society, the Lovers of Death. But Zhemailo is not the only investigator hot on the heels of these disciples of the occult. Little do they realise that the latest ‘convert’ to their secret society, assuming the alias of a Japanese prince, is none other than Erast Fandorin. But when a young and naive provincial woman, Masha Mironova, becomes embroiled in the society, and Zhemalio dies a mysterious death, Fandorin must do more than merely infiltrate and observe. Especially when the spin of the Russian roulette wheel decrees that our dashing hero be the next to die by his own hand. Can Fandorin fake his own demise, all while outwitting the cult’s dastardly leader?

Sister Pelagia and the White Bulldog

Pelagia’s family likeness to Father Brown and Miss Marple is marked, and reading about her supplies a similarly decorous pleasure. The Literary ReviewIn a remote Russian province in the late nineteenth century, Bishop Mitrofanii must deal with a family crisis. After learning that one of his great aunt s beloved and rare white bulldogs has been poisoned, the Orthodox bishop knows there is only one detective clever enough to investigate the murder: Sister Pelagia. The bespectacled, freckled Pelagia is lively, curious, extraordinarily clumsy, and persistent. At the estate in question, she finds a whole host of suspects, any one of whom might have benefited if the old lady who changes her will at whim had expired of grief at the pooch s demise. There s Pyotr, the matron s grandson, a nihilist with a grudge who has fallen for the maid; Stepan, the penniless caretaker, who has sacrificed his youth to the care of the estate; Miss Wrigley, a mysterious Englishwoman who has recently been named sole heiress to the fortune; Poggio, an opportunistic and freeloading artistic photographer; and, most intriguingly, Naina, the old lady s granddaughter, a girl so beautiful she could drive any man to do almost anything. As Pelagia bumbles and intuits her way to the heart of a mystery among people with faith only in greed and desire, she must bear in mind the words of Saint Paul: Beware of dogs and beware of evil doers. Critics on both sides of the Atlantic have praised Akunin s clever plots, vivid characters and wit. Baltimore Sun Akunin s wonderful novels are always intricately webbed and plotted. The Providence Journal

Sister Pelagia and the Black Monk / Pelagia and the Black Monk

In the middle of the night, a disheveled and badly frightened monk arrives at the doorstep of Bishop Mitrofanii of Zavolzhsk, crying: Something’s wrong at the Hermitage! The Hermitage is the centuries old island monastery of New Ararat, known for its tradition of severely penitent monks, isolated environs, and a mental institution founded by a millionaire in self imposed exile. Hearing the monk s eerie message, Mitrofanii s befuddled but sharp witted ward Sister Pelagia begs to visit New Ararat and uncover the mystery. Traditions prevail no women are allowed and the bishop sends other wards to test their fates against the Black Monk that haunts the once serene locale. But as the Black Monk claims more victims including Mitrofanii s envoys Pelagia goes undercover to see exactly what person, or what spirit, is at the bottom of it all. Fans of Sister Pelagia and the White Bulldog, the first book in Akunin s Pelagia trilogy, will be instantly mesmerized and frightened by this latest foray into Zavolzhsk s spiritual underworld. Praise: For all his status as a globe circling bestseller, Akunin keeps faith in his sleekly engineered and allusive whodunnits with the classical virtues of Russian prose…
. That polish lends his books a peculiar charm. The Independent London Readers can hear echoes of Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoevsky and Anton Chekov in whodunits that, because of their literary overtones, can be guiltlessly consumed as entertainment. Los Angeles Times

Pelagia and the Red Rooster / Sister Pelagia and the Red Co*ckerel

The ship carrying the devout to Jerusalem has run into rough waters. Onboard is Manuila, controversial leader of the Foundlings, a sect that worships him as the Messiah. But soon the polarizing leader is no longer a passenger or a prophet but a corpse, beaten to death by someone almost supernaturally strong. But not everything is as it seems, and someone else sailing has become enmeshed in the mystery: the seemingly slow but actually astute sleuth Sister Pelagia. Her investigation of the crime will take her deep into the most dangerous areas of the Middle East and Russia, running from one eyed criminals and after such unlikely animals as a red cockerel that may be more than a red herring. To her shock, she will emerge with not just the culprit in a murder case but a clue to the earth’s greatest secret. Sister Pelagia and the Red Co*ckerel features its beloved hero*ine s most exciting and explosive inquiry yet, one that just might shake the foundations of her faith.