The Winter Queen by Boris Akunin

On a spring morning in 1876, a wealthy student ends his life – but when new recruit Erast Fandorin starts digging, the case unravels into something darker: perhaps even a global conspiracy. In “The Winter Queen”, charm, danger and intrigue move from Moscow salons to shadowy London streets – exposing a world unraveling under its own secrets.

THE FIRST BOOK IN THE MULTI-MILLION COPY, INTERNATIONALLY BESTSELLING ERAST FANDORIN MYSTERIES SERIES

Moscow 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 hot-headed 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. 

'A sparkling romp of a story' TLS

'Think Tolstoy writing James Bond with the logical rigour of Sherlock Holmes' The Guardian

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