Boris Akunin 
Erast Fandorin Mysteries 
The Winter Queen, Turkish Gambit, Murder on the Leviathan

THE FIRST THREE VOLUMES IN THE BESTSELLING ERAST FANDORIN SERIES1 THE WINTER QUEEN’Think Tolstoy writing James Bond with the logical rigour of Sherlock Holmes’ GUARDIANMoscow 1876. A young law student commits suicide in broad daylight in Moscow’s Alexander Gardens. But this is no ordinary death, for the young man was the son of an influential industrialist and has left a considerable fortune.Erast Fandorin, a hotheaded new recruit to the Criminal Investigation Department, is assigned to the case.Brilliant, young, and sophisticated, Fandorin embarks on an investigation that will take him from the palatial mansions of Moscow to the seedy backstreets of London in his hunt for the conspirators behind this mysterious death.2 TURKISH GAMBIT’A popular hero to equal Sherlock Holmes and James Bond’ THE TIMESThe Russo-Turkish war is at a critical juncture, and Erast Fandorin, broken-hearted and disillusioned, has gone to the front in an attempt to forget his sorrows. But Fandorin’s efforts to steer clear of trouble are thwarted when he comes to the aid of Varvara Suvorova – a ‘progressive’ Russian woman trying to make her way to the Russian headquarters to join her fianc .3 MURDER ON THE LEVIATHAN’Fandorin is a beautifully drawn character who more than lives up to comparisons with Hercule Poirot or Sherlock Holmes’ DAILY EXPRESSOn 15th March 1878 Lord Littleby, an English eccentric and collector, is found murdered in his Paris house together with nine members of his staff. A gold whale in the victim’s hand leads Erast Fandorin to board the Leviathan, the world’s largest steamship, as the murderer is one of the 142 first class passengers.Commissioner Gauche of the French police has narrowed down the suspects to ten, and they are forced to eat together at every meal time in the ship’s Windsor Suite until ‘the Crime of the Century’ is solved. But is the murderer really at the table?