History Literature / TheWinterQueen

* NiceJobFixingItVillain: Akhtyrtsev has just finished giving Fandorin a perfectly plausible explanation for the death of Kokorin--they were playing RussianRoulette on a dare from Amalia, because they were morons, and Kokorin lost. That could have ended Fandorin's investigation. Then as they're leaving the nightclub an assassin kills Akhtyrtsev and nearly kills Fandorin, letting Fandorin know that something very bad is afoot.

** Fandorin lacks his trademark stutter and his gray temples, both of which are symptoms of the trauma he receives at the end of this one. He also lacks his affinity for Japanese culture and his faithful Japanese servant Masa, both of which are products of his diplomatic service in Japan soon after the time of this story.

** Fandorin is also the POV character in this novel, which is usually not the case in later books, although he is the POV character in the first parts of ''Literature/TheDeathOfAchilles'' and ''Literature/TheDiamondChariot''.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Fandorin lacks his trademark stutter and his gray temples, both of which are symptoms of the trauma he receives at the end of this one. He also lacks his affinity for Japanese culture and his faithful Japanese servant Masa, both of which are products of his diplomatic service in Japan soon after the time of this story. Fandorin is also the POV character in this novel, which is usually not the case in later books, although he is the POV character in the first parts of ''Literature/TheDeathOfAchilles'' and ''Literature/TheDiamondChariot''.

* PocketProtector: In ''The Winter Queen'', Erast's life is saved when an attacker's knife is turned away by his corset.

* CallForward: The main villain's prediction, about the violent, destructive ways that modernization and change will manifest themselves in the world if they are not managed, comes true in Russia in 1917.

* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: How Brilling meets his end.

* LightFeminineDarkFeminine: Elizaveta, the first woman Fandorin's attracted to, is blonde with pale skin and gray eyes and she's prone to blushing. She's the supremely innocent daughter of a baron. Amalia, the other woman he's attracted to, has "night-black eyes" and an "Egyptian oval face" and she wears scarlet dresses. She's an agent in a criminal conspiracy.

The first of fourteen novels in the wildly popular Fandorin series, which has taken the character from 1876 to 1914. A Russian television series adaptation of ''The Winter Queen'' was produced in 2002. An English-language adaptation of this novel languished in DevelopmentHell for years and years, and does not appear to be forthcoming.

* AnachronismStew: The first example of a deliberate anachronism played for a joke, a RunningGag throughout the series. Fandorin uses a telephone in Moscow in 1876, when that instrument had just been invented in America that year.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Fandorin lacks his trademark stutter, which manifests itself in later books as a symptom of the trauma he receives at the end of this one. He also lacks his affinity for Japanese culture and his faithful Japanese servant Masa, both of which are products of his diplomatic service in Japan soon after the time of this story.

* InWhichATropeIsDescribed: All the chapter titles.

* ItWorksBetterWithBullets: Count Zurov tricks Fandorin into committing a suicide of honor. However, it turns out to be a SecretTestOfCharacter (whether Fandorin would really go as far as shooting himself), since Zurov's butler removes all bullets from the revolver while everybody's looking the other way.

* TreacherousAdvisor: Brilling, although Fandorin still learns a lot from him, like his habit of summing up evidence by saying "So and so is one..."

The first of fourteen novels in the wildly popular Fandorin series, which has taken the character from 1876 to 1912. A Russian television series was produced in 2002. An English-language adaptation of this novel languished in DevelopmentHell for years and years, and does not appear to be forthcoming.

* CompletelyDifferentTitle: The original Russian title of ''The Winter Queen'' is ''Azazel'', a reference to the secret society at the center of the mystery. The English title is a random reference to a hotel Fandorin stays at.

* MilkmanConspiracy: The sinister [[FauxSymbolism Azazel]] conspiracy in ''The Winter Queen'' turns out be [[spoiler:perpetrated by an international charity network for gifted children and the mastermind behind it is the sweet old Lady Astair]].

* RussianRoulette: Amusingly, called ''American'' roulette in Moscow.

* InWhichATropeIsDescribed

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* OfCorsetsSexy: The young, naive Fandorin of the first book buys a male corset after hearing its snake-oil claims of improving health... which technically turns out to be true, as it later saves his life by deflecting a knife. In a SugarWiki/{{Funny Moment|s}}, Ivan Brilling then decides that it was a brilliant precaution for Fandorin to wear it on a dangerous job and that the entire Russian police force should be issued them...

The first of fourteen novels in the wildly popular Fandorin series, which has taken the character from 1876 to 1912. A Russian television series was produced in 2002. An English-language adaptation languished in DevelopmentHell for years and years, and does not appear to be forthcoming.

* TrivialTitle: In the English translation only. "The Winter Queen" is a random reference to the hotel Fandorin stays at during his brief visit to London.