Turkish Gambit: Erast Fandorin 2 (Erast Fandorin Mysteries) - Tapa dura

An intricate thriller (Red)

What Akunin's books have in common is charm, elegant writing, abundant wit - and Erast Fandorin...He is a delightful characters like no other in crime fiction. (Marcel Berlins TIMES (18.12.04))

Boris Akunin's fast-paced detective mysteries, with their exotic locations and light-hearted pastiche nineteenth-century prose, have sold over 10 million copies in Russia. TURKISH GAMBIT, his third novel, stays true to the winning formula. (Tom Roundell TLS (24 & 31 December 2004))

Without Fandorin the novels would simply be romps, but his presence provides a note of pathos that has led to comparisons in Russia with Gogol and Tolstoy. This is the 19th century evoked in all its absurdity, but also in the knowledge that it is a fragile world whose inflexible certainties will soon be shattered. Akunin is a sly writer, maintaining mystery to the end and closing the novel on a sombre note that confirms he underlying seriousness. (Joan Smith SUNDAY TIMES (2.1.05))

an intricate thriller. (Alex Clark RED (February 2005))

this is...the best so far...[a] sheer swashbuckling frenzy, perhaps in the style of George MacDonald Fraser. (Omer Ali TIME OUT (5-12 January 2005))

Turkish Gambit offers a refreshing new perspective on the classic crime story. (WATERSTONE'S BOOKS QUARTERLY (January 2005))

There's much to enjoy in Akunin's thrillers. His novels are historical pastiches of high quality with the additional pleasure of an unfamiliar Russian perspective on world affairs...Akunin is a hugely entertaining writer. (Andrew Taylor SPECTATOR (15.1.05))

There is a hint of Gogol, more than a hint of Tolstoy, and a generous dollop of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle...Akunin is the most playful of wrtiers, and it would be madness to take his stylish romps too seriously. (David Robson TELEGRAPH (16.2.05))

Very elegant and assured. The period detail - both comic and dashing - glitters impeccably. Akunin has designed his own diorama of a world at war, but it's unlikely that history was quite as entertaining as this. (Philip Oakes LITERARY REVIEW (February 2005))