It's 1882 and Erast Fandorin has returned to Moscow for the first time in six years accompanied by a Japanese servant. Almost immediately he becomes embroiled in an investigation into the death of the war-hero often referred to as Achilles. There are things going on under the surface and the investigation leads Fandoran into troubled waters.

About halfway through the book, just as Fandoran seems to have solved the final puzzle, the reader turns the page and we are, seemingly, in a different story. After a while I realized that this is the life story of the murderer and in the short third section of the novel the two stories do come together. I don't recall reading a mystery constructed quite like this one before. Although the switch to Achimas was slightly off-putting at first, I soon saw where we were heading and, in the end, I did enjoy this mystery.

The Death of Achilles, the latest Erast Fandorin novel (at least the latest in English translation), has many of the same flaws and merits of its predecessors. The “look and feel” is still anachronistic; I’m just not getting a feel for Moscow in 1882. The hero has acquired yet another mystery novel cliché, the Faithful Oriental Servant. And Fandorin is still possessed of supernatural luck, to the extent that he engages in a series of “handkerchief duels” with the sublime self assurance that he’ll be the one with the loaded pistol.


It’s also less of a mystery and more of an adventure novel; I can’t say too much about that without revealing spoilers but suffice it to say that even if you follow things closely the identity of the murderer is still a surprise. The victim is General Michel Sobolev, “The Russian Achilles” and hero of the Russo-Turkish war (who was encountered in The Turkish Gambit). Sobolev is found dead the day Erast Fandorin returns from six years in Japan with the Russian diplomatic service. It’s apparently a heart attacks bit some of the powers that be thinks otherwise and direct Fandorin to investigate. We have the expected femme fatale, Russian gangsters, Russian politicians, and all the usual suspects. The Faithful Oriental Servant is vital to the action, and as Fandorin moves up in the Civil Service the level of political complexity increases.


Each Fandorin novel so far has had a different Point of View; this one continues that tradition - the first half is centered on Fandorin and the second half sees things from the murderer’s perspective. This works surprising well and makes up for the paucity of clues to the murder’s identity in the first part. One thing I liked is the author’s not afraid to show the hero making mistakes; many of the actions Fandorin takes in his part of the novel turn out to be egregious errors when seen through the perpetrator’s eyes. There’s a very subtle humor here that I’m beginning to appreciate more as the series continues.


Added later: I’ve since found out that Akunin has divided mystery stories into 16 genres, and intends to write a Fandorin novel in each. That explains the stylistic differences between novels. ( )

Another absolute quality Erast Petrovich Fandorin mystery, in which our hero returns to Russia after several years in Japan, as a result he as now added Martial Arts skills to his already extraordinary talents, and gained a Japanese manservant.
No sooner does he start at his new post than he is investigating the death of a Russian hero, all the usual Boris Akunin traits are on show, well written with a great feeling of time and place, excellent characters, surprise, mystery and humour.
Recommended read. ( )

I like the hero of this series, Fandorin, and his Japanese servant Masa. I didn't care for the structure of this book though -- it is divided into 3 sections or "Books". By far the longest is the first part, which was a straightfoward narrative of Fandorin's investigation into the death of "Achilles", the popular Russian general Sobolev. Then, the second section breaks the train of the narrative and tells the history and background of the killer, leading up to the point at which the first section broke off. The third section then continues with the action. I found this second section disrupted the flow and although interesting, it was unnecessary to the story. Perhaps the publisher told Akunin that the book wasn't long enough so he added this section to pad it out.

Otherwise this is a fun historical fiction mystery & Andrew Bromfield's translation is excellent. ( )

Ok I agree with some of the reviews- it is not the best Akunin, but he is still trying our various narrative devices and it is still a cut above the average thriller. Read it but not as your first Akunin. Second half is better than the first that is probably the main problem, it is just a bit slow to get going. ( )