Download or read book Sister Pelagia and the Black Monk written by Boris Akunin and published by Random House. This book was released on 2008-11-26 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fans of Sister Pelagia and the White Bulldog, the first book in Akunin’s Pelagia trilogy, will be instantly mesmerized–and frightened–by this latest foray into Zavolzhsk’ s spiritual underworld. In the middle of the night, a disheveled and badly frightened monk arrives at the doorstep of Bishop Mitrofanii of Zavolzhsk, crying: “Something’s wrong at the Hermitage!” The Hermitage is the centuries-old island monastery of New Ararat, known for its tradition of severely penitent monks, isolated environs, and a mental institution founded by a millionaire in self-imposed exile. Hearing the monk’s eerie message, Mitrofanii’s befuddled but sharp-witted ward Sister Pelagia begs to visit New Ararat and uncover the mystery. Traditions prevail–no women are allowed–and the bishop sends other wards to test their fates against the Black Monk that haunts the once serene locale. But as the Black Monk claims more victims–including Mitrofanii’s envoys–Pelagia goes undercover to see exactly what person, or what spirit, is at the bottom of it all. Praise for Sister Pelagia and the Black Monk “For all his status as a globe-circling bestseller, Akunin keeps faith in his sleekly engineered and allusive whodunnits with the classical virtues of Russian prose. . . . That polish lends his books a peculiar charm.”–The Independent (London) “Readers can hear echoes of Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoevsky and Anton Chekov in whodunits that, because of their literary overtones, can be guiltlessly consumed as entertainment.”—Los Angeles Times

Download or read book Sister Pelagia and the Black Monk written by Boris Akunin and published by Random House Trade Paperbacks. This book was released on 2008-05-13 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fans of Sister Pelagia and the White Bulldog, the first book in Akunin’s Pelagia trilogy, will be instantly mesmerized–and frightened–by this latest foray into Zavolzhsk’ s spiritual underworld. In the middle of the night, a disheveled and badly frightened monk arrives at the doorstep of Bishop Mitrofanii of Zavolzhsk, crying: “Something’s wrong at the Hermitage!” The Hermitage is the centuries-old island monastery of New Ararat, known for its tradition of severely penitent monks, isolated environs, and a mental institution founded by a millionaire in self-imposed exile. Hearing the monk’s eerie message, Mitrofanii’s befuddled but sharp-witted ward Sister Pelagia begs to visit New Ararat and uncover the mystery. Traditions prevail–no women are allowed–and the bishop sends other wards to test their fates against the Black Monk that haunts the once serene locale. But as the Black Monk claims more victims–including Mitrofanii’s envoys–Pelagia goes undercover to see exactly what person, or what spirit, is at the bottom of it all. Praise for Sister Pelagia and the Black Monk “For all his status as a globe-circling bestseller, Akunin keeps faith in his sleekly engineered and allusive whodunnits with the classical virtues of Russian prose. . . . That polish lends his books a peculiar charm.”–The Independent (London) “Readers can hear echoes of Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoevsky and Anton Chekov in whodunits that, because of their literary overtones, can be guiltlessly consumed as entertainment.”—Los Angeles Times

Download or read book Pelagia the Black Monk written by Boris Akunin and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sister Pelagia, bespectacled, freckled, woefully clumsy and possessed of a not very nunnish aptitude for solving crimes, returns in a tale of monastic intrigue, murder and adventure.

Download or read book Sister Pelagia and the White Bulldog written by Boris Akunin and published by Random House. This book was released on 2007-01-30 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Pelagia’s family likeness to Father Brown and Miss Marple is marked, and reading about her supplies a similarly decorous pleasure.” –The Literary Review In a remote Russian province in the late nineteenth century, Bishop Mitrofanii must deal with a family crisis. After learning that one of his great aunt’s beloved and rare white bulldogs has been poisoned, the Orthodox bishop knows there is only one detective clever enough to investigate the murder: Sister Pelagia. The bespectacled, freckled Pelagia is lively, curious, extraordinarily clumsy, and persistent. At the estate in question, she finds a whole host of suspects, any one of whom might have benefited if the old lady (who changes her will at whim) had expired of grief at the pooch’s demise. There’s Pyotr, the matron’s grandson, a nihilist with a grudge who has fallen for the maid; Stepan, the penniless caretaker, who has sacrificed his youth to the care of the estate; Miss Wrigley, a mysterious Englishwoman who has recently been named sole heiress to the fortune; Poggio, an opportunistic and freeloading “artistic” photographer; and, most intriguingly, Naina, the old lady’s granddaughter, a girl so beautiful she could drive any man to do almost anything. As Pelagia bumbles and intuits her way to the heart of a mystery among people with faith only in greed and desire, she must bear in mind the words of Saint Paul: “Beware of dogs–and beware of evil-doers.” “Critics on both sides of the Atlantic have praised [Akunin’s] clever plots, vivid characters and wit.” –Baltimore Sun “Akunin’s wonderful novels are always intricately webbed and plotted.” –The Providence Journal

Download or read book Sister Pelagia and the Red Cockerel written by Boris Akunin and published by Random House Trade Paperbacks. This book was released on 2009-08-11 with total page 433 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The ship carrying the devout to Jerusalem has run into rough waters. Onboard is Manuila, controversial leader of the “Foundlings,” a sect that worships him as the Messiah. But soon the polarizing leader is no longer a passenger or a prophet but a corpse, beaten to death by someone almost supernaturally strong. But not everything is as it seems, and someone else sailing has become enmeshed in the mystery: the seemingly slow but actually astute sleuth Sister Pelagia. Her investigation of the crime will take her deep into the most dangerous areas of the Middle East and Russia, running from one-eyed criminals and after such unlikely animals as a red cockerel that may be more than a red herring. To her shock, she will emerge with not just the culprit in a murder case but a clue to the earth’s greatest secret. Sister Pelagia and the Red Cockerel features its beloved heroine’s most exciting and explosive inquiry yet, one that just might shake the foundations of her faith.

Download or read book Sister Pelagia and the White Bulldog written by Boris Akunin and published by Random House Trade Paperbacks. This book was released on 2007-01-30 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Pelagia’s family likeness to Father Brown and Miss Marple is marked, and reading about her supplies a similarly decorous pleasure.” –The Literary Review In a remote Russian province in the late nineteenth century, Bishop Mitrofanii must deal with a family crisis. After learning that one of his great aunt’s beloved and rare white bulldogs has been poisoned, the Orthodox bishop knows there is only one detective clever enough to investigate the murder: Sister Pelagia. The bespectacled, freckled Pelagia is lively, curious, extraordinarily clumsy, and persistent. At the estate in question, she finds a whole host of suspects, any one of whom might have benefited if the old lady (who changes her will at whim) had expired of grief at the pooch’s demise. There’s Pyotr, the matron’s grandson, a nihilist with a grudge who has fallen for the maid; Stepan, the penniless caretaker, who has sacrificed his youth to the care of the estate; Miss Wrigley, a mysterious Englishwoman who has recently been named sole heiress to the fortune; Poggio, an opportunistic and freeloading “artistic” photographer; and, most intriguingly, Naina, the old lady’s granddaughter, a girl so beautiful she could drive any man to do almost anything. As Pelagia bumbles and intuits her way to the heart of a mystery among people with faith only in greed and desire, she must bear in mind the words of Saint Paul: “Beware of dogs–and beware of evil-doers.” “Critics on both sides of the Atlantic have praised [Akunin’s] clever plots, vivid characters and wit.” –Baltimore Sun “Akunin’s wonderful novels are always intricately webbed and plotted.” –The Providence Journal

Download or read book Pelagia and the White Bulldog written by Boris Akunin and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2010-08-12 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Canine conspiracies, spurned lovers, murderous greed, jealousy, politics, power and knitting: Pelagia and the White Bulldog marks the beginning of an addictively entertaining new crime series from the internationally bestselling author, Boris Akunin. In the dying days of the nineteenth century, the small Russian town of Zavolzhsk is shaken out of its sleepy rural existence by the arrival from St Petersburg of a Synodical Inspector with a hidden agenda and a dangerously persuasive manner. Meanwhile, in the nearby country estate of Drozdovka, one of the prized white Bulldogs - prized because of its one brown ear, and its propensity to drool - belonging to the cantankerous lady of the house has been poisoned. The old widow has taken to her bed, sick with fear that her two remaining dogs may face a similar fate, and the many potential beneficiaries of her will wait fretfully to see whether or not she will recover. Sister Pelagia: bespectacled, freckled, woefully clumsy and astonishingly resourceful is summoned by the Bishop of Zavolzhsk to investigate the bulldog's death. But her investigation soon takes a far more sinister turn when two headless bodies are pulled out of the river on the edge of the estate.

Download or read book Pelagia And The Red Rooster written by Boris Akunin and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2010-12-30 with total page 409 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The next caper in the Sister Pelagia mystery from the bestselling author of THE WINTER QUEEN. Returning from the Synod in St Petersburg - and an official rebuke of her crime-fighting ways - Sister Pelagia finds herself aboard a steamer dodging pickpockets, zealots and a sinister man with a detachable eye. But a brutal murder in the next cabin spells the end of her sleuthing retirement, and the start of an investigation that will take her to the Holy Land and far beyond. Pelagia's journey is peppered with tales of miracles and roosters, and caves that act as portals to other worlds. But an assassin is closing in, pursuing the sister to the land of the Gospels where her criminal enquiry becomes a spiritual enquiry as she sets down her knitting needles to question the very foundations of her faith...

Download or read book She Lover of Death written by Boris Akunin and published by Grove Press. This book was released on 2020-03-03 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Russian detective infiltrates a dangerous circle of suicidal poets in this “droll, incisive, and fiendishly clever” series set in nineteenth-century Moscow (The Seattle Times). Naive young Masha Mironova arrives in Moscow at the turn of the century determined to shed her provincial Siberian upbringing. Reinventing herself as the reckless and daring Columbine, she soon falls in with a subversive group of poets known as the Lovers of Death. At the home of their leader, the Doge, these seductive bohemians conduct nightly séances to determine who shall be Death’s next lover. Once named at a séance, the chosen member must await three signs from Death before taking his or her own life. The resulting string of suicides have drawn media attention and sparked widespread hysteria in Moscow. As the group’s numbers dwindle, the dashing investigator Erast Fandorin goes undercover to join their ranks. But will the gentleman-detective be able to stop Columbine from taking fatal action when she receives her three unmistakable signs? “A devastatingly attractive combination of Sherlock Holmes, Lord Peter Wimsey and James Bond.” —The Guardian

Download or read book The Coronation written by Boris Akunin and published by Grove Press. This book was released on 2019-02-05 with total page 357 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Fandorin . . . dominates this, the seventh of his adventures to be published in the States, as he always does—with Sherlockian elan” (The Washington Post). Boris Akunin has been hailed as Russia’s answer to both Agatha Christie and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle for his beloved Fandorin mystery series. In The Coronation, he delivers a fantastically entertaining and deftly plotted take on the hostage novel, not to be missed. After five years spent abroad building up a business as something of a private investigator, the handsome, stuttering Fandorin is back in Moscow—and in for a case that entangles him with the highest echelons of Romanov royalty. Grand Duke Georgii Alexandrovich arrives in Moscow with three of his children for the coronation of Tsar Nicholas II. During an afternoon stroll in the park, Georgii’s daughter Xenia is dragged away by bandits, only to be rescued by an elegant gentleman and his Japanese sidekick. The passing heroes introduce themselves as Erast Petrovich Fandorin and Masa, but panic ensues when the party realizes that four-year-old Mikhail has been snatched in the confusion. A ransom letter arrives from an international criminal demanding the handover of the Count Orlov, an enormous diamond on the royal scepter which is due to play a part in the coronation. Can the gentleman-detective find Mikhail in time? “Akunin keeps the action fast-paced, and the logical twists head-spinning, without sacrificing humor or depth of characterization.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) “Just when you think you know what’s coming next, Akunin, the most audacious author of historical mysteries in the business, shows that he’s way ahead of you . . . a treat.” —Kirkus Reviews

Download or read book The Greatest Russian Stories of Crime and Suspense written by Otto Penzler and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2021-11-15 with total page 315 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first anthology ever devoted entirely to Russian crime fiction.

Download or read book The State Counsellor written by Boris Akunin and published by Open Road + Grove/Atlantic. This book was released on 2017-07-04 with total page 299 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Moscow’s 19th century diplomat-detective Fandorin is on the run for murder in this ingenious historical mystery by “the Russian Ian Fleming” (Ruth Rendell). Since the publication of The Winter Queen, a New York Times Notable Book, millions of readers have been enthralled by Erast Fandorin, “a devastatingly attractive combination of Sherlock Holmes, Lord Peter Wimsey and James Bond” (The Guardian). Now, Moscow’s premier sleuth returns to see his guile, morals, and even his identity challenged in a thriller “brimming with adventure and extraordinary vitality” (Anne Perry, Edgar Award winner). Moscow, 1891. The new Governor General of Siberia has been secreted away on a train from St. Petersburg to the former Russian capital. Out of a raging blizzard emerges a mustachioed official who introduces himself as State Counsellor Erast Fandorin, who thrusts a dagger into the general’s heart then flees. When the Department of Security arrests Fandorin for12/ murder, he must find the imposter to save his own life. As the trail leads to the fearless machinations of terrorist revolutionaries, corruption among his fellow officials, and the seductions of a young nihilist, Fandorin’s mission is becoming rather dangerous. In this “relentless page-turner . . . the 19th century that Mr. Akunin depicts is pulsing with irresistible energy” (New York Journal of Books). Adapted for the screen in 2005 as one of the most expensive films ever made in Russia, The State Counsellor is a “remarkably good . . . and entertaining detective novel that is simultaneously an excursion into Russian history and culture” (Los Angeles Review of Books)—one that “will keep readers guessing until the end” (Publishers Weekly).

Download or read book Special Assignments written by Boris Akunin and published by Random House. This book was released on 2008-02-12 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Special Assignments, Erast Fandorin, nineteenth-century Russia’s suavest sleuth, faces two formidable new foes: One steals outrageous sums of money, the other takes lives. “The Jack of Spades” is a civilized swindler who has conned thousands of rubles from Moscow’s residents–including Fandorin’s own boss, Prince Dolgorukoi. To catch him, Fandorin and his new assistant, timid young policeman Anisii Tulipov, must don almost as many disguises as the grifter does himself. “The Decorator” is a different case altogether: A savage serial killer who believes he “cleans” the women he mutilates and takes his orders from on high, he must be given Fandorin’s most serious attentions. Peopled by a rich cast of eccentric characters, and with plots that are as surprising as they are inventive, Special Assignments will delight Akunin’s many fans, while challenging the gentleman sleuth’s brilliant powers of detection. Praise from England: “Boris Akunin’s wit and invention are a source of constant wonder.” –Evening Standard “[Fandorin is] a debonair combo of Sherlock Holmes, D’Artagnan and most of the soulful heroes of Russian literature. . . . This pair of perfectly balanced stories permit the character of Fandorin to grow.” –The Sunday Telegraph “Agatha Christie meets James Bond: [Akunin’s] plots are intricate and tantalizing. . . . [These stories] are unputdownable and great fun.” –Sunday Express “The beguiling, super-brainy, sexy, unpredictable Fandorin is a creation like no other in crime fiction.” –The Times

Download or read book Flame of Sevenwaters written by Juliet Marillier and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2012-11-06 with total page 450 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Maeve, daughter of Lord Sean of Sevenwaters, was badly burned as a child and carries the legacy of that fire in her crippled hands. After ten years she’s returning home, a courageous, forthright woman. But while her body’s scars have healed, her spirit remains fragile, fearing the shadows of her past. Sevenwaters is in turmoil. The fey prince Mac Dara is desperate to see his only son, married to Maeve’s sister, return to the Otherworld. To force Lord Sean’s hand, Mac Dara has caused a party of innocent travelers on the Sevenwaters border to vanish—only to allow their murdered bodies to be found one by one. When Maeve finds a body in a remote part of the woods, she and her brother, Finbar, embark on a journey that could bring about the end of Mac Dara’s reign—or lead to a hideous death. If she is successful, Maeve may open the door to a future she has not dared to believe possible....

Download or read book The Akunin Project written by Elena V. Baraban and published by University of Toronto Press. This book was released on 2021-02-01 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Akunin Project is the first book to study the fiction and popular history of Grigorii Chkhartishvili, one of the most successful writers in post-Soviet Russia. In the first two decades of the twenty-first century, Chkhartishvili published over sixty books under the pen names Anatolii Brusnikin, Anna Borisova, Akunin-Chkhartishvili, and, most commonly, Boris Akunin. His series featuring the tsarist secret policeman Erast Fandorin has sold over 15 million books in Russia alone, making Akunin one of the bestselling authors of the post-Soviet era. Combining intertextuality, allusions, pastiche, and other markers of postmodern playfulness, many of Akunin’s works have been translated into English and have also been adapted for film and television. Akunin’s public profile has been further enhanced by his active involvement in mass political protests against Vladimir Putin. Despite Akunin’s international reputation as a celebrated writer, there is very little critical work on his literary output and his mysterious persona. Bringing together scholars of literature, history, and culture, The Akunin Project fills this gap by exploring the author’s bestselling adventure novels and recent histories of the Russian state. The book includes translations of five short works previously unavailable in English as well as an interview with the author.

Download or read book The Librarian written by Mikhail Elizarov and published by Pushkin Press. This book was released on 2015-02-10 with total page 417 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If Ryu Murakami had written War and Peace As the introduction to this book will tell you, the books by Gromov, obscure and long forgotten propaganda author of the Soviet era, have such an effect on their readers that they suddenly enjoy supernatural powers. Understandably, their readers need to keep accessing these books at all cost and gather into groups around book-bearers, or, as they're called, librarians. Alexei, until now a loser, comes to collect an uncle's inheritance and unexpectedly becomes a librarian. He tells his extraordinary, unbelievable story.

Download or read book I Want to Live written by Nina Lugovskai︠a︡ and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 2006 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recently unearthed in the archives of Stalin's secret police, the NKVD, Nina Lugovskaya's diary offers rare insight into the life of a teenage girl in Stalin's Russia-when fear of arrest was a fact of daily life. Like Anne Frank, thirteen-year-old Nina is conscious of the extraordinary dangers around her and her family, yet she is preoccupied by ordinary teenage concerns: boys, parties, her appearance, who she wants to be when she grows up. As Nina records her most personal emotions and observations, herreflections shape a diary that is as much a portrait of her intense inner world as it is the Soviet outer one. Preserved here, these markings-the evidence used to convict Nina as a "counterrevolutionary"- offer today's reader a fascinating perspective on the era in which she lived.