Recap / Erast Fandorin

The Erast Fandorin series currently consists of following novels:

1. The Winter Queen (1998, originally titled Azazel): An investigation into a strange suicide of a young Muscovite playboy in 1876 leads Fandorin, then a rookie police clerk, to uncover a massive international conspiracy with sights on seizing control over the entire world.
2. The Turkish Gambit (1998): Still reeling from the trauma he suffered at the end of book one, Fandorin enlists as a volunteer in Bulgaria during the Russo-Turkish war of 1877, but is soon roped into a counterintelligence operation to stop a brilliant Turkish spy. Adapted into a movie in 2005.
3. Murder on the Leviathan (1998): Fed up with the detective work, Fandorin transfers to the Russian diplomatic mission in Japan in 1878 — only to have to solve a Closed Circle murder mystery aboard a Cool Boat en route from Southampton to Calcutta.
4. The Death of Achilles (1998): Fandorin returns to Moscow in 1882 and is immediately embroiled in a manhunt for the Professional Killer who assassinated a popular general. Luckily, Fandorin brought a few ninja tricks back home with him.
5. Special Assignments (1999): Two novellas in a single volume:
   1. The Jack of Spades: After being robbed blind by an audacious Con Man in 1886, Fandorin sets out to outcon the conman and to bring him to justice. He is assisted by Anisy Tulipov — a rookie police clerk not unlike Fandorin himself a decade ago.
   2. The Decorator: In 1889, the Moscow underworld is shaken by the gruesome acts of a homebred Jack the Ripoff, and Fandorin and Tulipov are called upon to stop him.
6. The State Counsellor (2000): A high-ranked official is assassinated by revolutionaries in 1891, and Fandorin is ordered to cooperate with a visiting investigator from St. Petersburg in locating and eliminating their cell. By the end of the novel, Fandorin grows so disgusted with political scheming, he resigns from public service.
7. The Coronation (2000): Shortly before Nicholas II's coronation in 1896, a Diabolical Mastermind kidnaps the future Tsar's nephew and demands a ransom so outrageous, the royal family resorts to enlisting the now-disgraced and abroad-residing Fandorin to resolve the case without unnecessary publicity.
8. She Lover of Death (2001): Fandorin returns to Moscow once more in 1900 to investigate a suicide club that's making the headlines and that he suspects of foul play.
9. He Lover of Death (2001): Simultaneously with the events of She Lover of Death, Fandorin finds himself drawn into the underworld schemes revolving around "Death", a woman whose beauty is only equaled by her horrific luck with romantic suitors.
10. The Diamond Chariot (2003): Two interconnected novels set in reverse order:
    1. Part 1: As the Russo-Japanese War breaks out in 1905, Fandorin temporarily returns to the Russian state service, albeit as a railroad engineer, rather than an investigator. However, when a crafty Japanese spy starts derailing Russian trains, Fandorin's detective skills are called for once again.
    2. Part 2: Jumping back to 1878, Fandorin serves as a diplomat in the Russian embassy in Yokohama, but is soon drawn into an investigation of a series of political murders rumored to have been perpetrated by the ninjas.
11. Jade Rosary Beads (2006): A collection of short stories, most of which are homages to famous detective mystery authors. A Missing Episode to English-language readers, as it has not been translated.
    1. "Shigumo": A Sanyutei Encho homage, set in Yokohama, 1881. A former colleague of Fandorin is killed by, as rumor has it, a shapeshifting Giant Spider, so he sets out to discover the truth.
    2. "Table-Talk, 1882": An Edgar Allan Poe homage, set in Moscow, 1882. While attending a boring dinner party, Fandorin solves a decade-old cold case, based on the gruesome details recounted by another attendee to shock the audience.
    3. "From the Lives of Woodchips": A Georges Simenon homage, set in Moscow, 1883. Investigating the murder of a rich businessman, Fandorin learns that the businessman wasn't the target to begin with.
    4. "Jade Rosary Beads": A Robert van Gulik homage, set in Moscow, 1884. A jewelry store owner is brutally murdered but the robbers leave with only a few worthless items. Intrigued, Fandorin takes over the case.
    5. "The Scarpea of the Baskakovs": An Arthur Conan Doyle homage, set near Moscow, 1888. The land-owning family of Baskakovs is haunted by their ancestral curse — the eponymous giant snake. With only one Baskakov heir surviving, Fandorin sends Tulipov to investigate.
    6. "One Tenth Percent": A Patricia Highsmith homage, set in Moscow, 1890. Two unrelated manslaughter cases in Moscow and St. Petersburg look like premeditated murder but neither shows a discernible motive. And yet, Fandorin manages to link them by sheer luck.
    7. "Tea in Bristol": An Agatha Christie homage, set in Bristol, 1891. Living in exile after The State Councilor, Fandorin teams up with his elderly landlady to solve the theft of a family treasure. This gives him the idea of becoming a Private Detective.
    8. "Dream Valley": A Washington Irving homage, set in Wyoming, 1894. While living in USA, Fandorin is contracted by the Pinkertons to assist a fellow expat in purchasing a piece of land currently plagued by outlaws.
    9. "Before the End of the World": An Umberto Eco homage, set in the Russian North, 1897. After a nationwide census is started in Russia, the Old Believers all across the back-country start burying themselves alive in protest. Although he initially returns to Russia incognito to help with the census, Fandorin soon begins to investigate the mass suicides instead.
    10. "The Prisoner of the Tower, or A Short But Beautiful Journey of Three Wise Men": A Maurice Leblanc homage, set in northern France, 1899. On the eve of 1900, Fandorin and Sherlock Holmes race to foil the latest scheme by Arsène Lupin before the other.
12. All the World's a Stage (2009): Fandorin investigates a series of murders occurring at an experimental Moscow theater in 1911, but the investigation is hindered by him falling madly in love with the lead actress.
13. Black City (2012): After being duped by an assassin connected to the revolutionaries in Yalta in 1914, Fandorin pursues him to Baku, where fortunes are being made on the recently discovered oil deposits.
14. Planet Water (2015): Consisting of three novellas. A Missing Episode to English-language readers, as it has not been translated.
    1. "Planet Water": A Jules Vernesque novel, set in 1902-03.
    2. "The Lonely Sail": Takes place in the remote province of Zavolzhsk in 1906.
    3. "Where Shall We Go?": Takes place in Warsaw, Russian Poland on December 31, 1912.
15. Not Saying Goodbye (2018): Per Word of God, the last novel in the Fandorin series, taking place in the post-Revolution Russia, 1918-19.

Akunin also wrote an original stage play starring Fandorin, titled Yin and Yang (2005), and a spin-off novel Simply Masa (2020), starring Fandorin's loyal valet as a protagonist.

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