Synopsis
This dryly humorous historical mystery was a bestseller in Russia. Lord Littleby and nine members of his Parisian household were brutally murdered and Littleby's gold image of Shiva stolen. The killer's trail leads over the water to the posh British liner Leviathan. Commissioner Gustave Gauche and the Russian diplomat Erast P. Fandorin vie to be the one to finger the killer amongst the first-class passengers.
| Details | | Publication Date: | 2004-04-01 | | Narrated by: | Campbell Scott | | Edition Description: | Abridged |
| Size | | Height: | 7.3 in | | Width: | 4.5 in | | Thickness: | 1.2 in | | Weight: | 5.6 oz |
Publisher's Note
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.
Industry Reviews
"...[An] exemplary retro period puzzler....The imperial/aristocratic milieu pays homage to Agatha Christie, the fiendishly clever Chinese-box plotting to Ellery Queen. Akunin's most distinctive contribution is a tone of dryly amused irony that continues to the last sad line." (starred review)
Kirkus (03/01/2004)
"[A] crafty puzzle in a sophisticated setting....Akunin's delicious pastiche...is also an elegant comedy of manners. Snappishly witty."
New York Times Book Review - Marilyn Stasio (05/09/2004)
"From the first chapter..it is clear that we are in for some good old Victorian camp....[A] likeable book."
Times Literary Supplement - Melanie Brett (04/02/2004)
"Ingenious, diverting, sometimes brilliant take on an Agatha Christie-style whodunit....Escapist, exciting and altogether innocent. A lively, refreshing, read."
Literary Review - Philip Oakes (04/01/2004)
| See an error? Submit a change request |
All rights reserved.
