Murder on the Leviathan (Erast Fandorin Series #2)

by Boris Akunin, Michael Kramer (Narrated by)

Overview

In 1878 Paris, Police Commissioner "Papa" Gauche must solve a brutal murder. Lord Littleby has been found at home with his head bashed in, surrounded by the bodies of seven servants and two children who all seem to have died from morphine poisoning. The only clue Gauche has to go on is a gold key in the shape of a whale. This key gains entrance to a luxury liner, the Leviathan, whose maiden voyage is to India. Gauche embarks, and finds among the passengers - all highly suspicious - Erast Fandorin, now a diplomat bound for a posting in Japan, but previously a crack inspector in the Moscow Police Department. When Fandorin discovers that a murderer is on board, he joins forces with Gauche to deduce the awful truth.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781415903087
Publisher:	Books on Tape, Inc.
Publication date:	02/26/2008
Series:	Erast Fandorin Series , #2
Edition description:	Unabridged

About the Author

BORIS AKUNIN is the pen name of Grigory Chkhartishvili, who was born in the republic of Georgia in 1956. A philologist, critic, essayist, and translator of Japanese, he published his first detective stories in 1998 and quickly became one of the most widely read authors in Russia. He has written ten Erast Fandorin novels to date, which have sold more than eight million copies in Russia and been translated into nearly two dozen languages. He lives in Moscow.

Read an Excerpt

part one

PORT SAID TO ADEN

Commissioner Gauche

At Port Said another passenger boarded the Leviathan, occupying stateroom number eighteen, the last first-class cabin still vacant, and Gustave Gauche's mood immediately improved. The newcomer looked highly promising: that self-assured and unhurried way of carrying himself, that inscrutable expression on the handsome face. At first glance he seemed quite young, but when he removed his bowler hat, the hair on his temples was unexpectedly gray. A curious specimen, the commissioner decided. It was clear straight off that he had character and what they call "a past." All in all, definitely a client for papa Gauche.

The passenger walked up the gangway, swinging his shoulder bag, while the porters sweated as they struggled under the weight of his ample baggage: expensive suitcases that squeaked, high-quality pigskin traveling bags, huge bundles of books, and even a folding tricycle (one large wheel, two small ones, and an array of gleaming metal tubes). Bringing up the rear came two poor devils lugging an imposing set of gymnastic weights.

Gauche's heart, the heart of an old sleuth (as the commissioner himself was fond of testifying), had thrilled to the lure of the hunt when the newcomer proved to have no golden badge--neither on the silk lapel of his dandified summer coat, nor on his jacket, nor on his watch chain. Warmer now, very warm, thought Gauche, vigilantly scrutinizing the fop from beneath his bushy brows and puffing on his favorite clay pipe. But of course, why had he, old fool that he was, assumed the murderer would board the steamship at Southampton? The crime was committed on the fifteenth of March, and today was already the first of April. It would have been perfectly easy to reach Port Said while the Leviathan was rounding the western rim of Europe. And there you had it, everything fitted: the right kind of character for a client, plus a first-class ticket, plus the most important thing--no golden whale.

For some time Gauche's dreams had been haunted by that accursed badge with the abbreviated title of the Jasper-Artaud Partnership steamship company, and without exception his dreams had been uncommonly bad. Take the latest, for instance.

The commissioner was out boating with Mme. Gauche in the Bois de Boulogne. The sun was shining high in the sky and the birds were twittering in the trees. Suddenly a gigantic golden face with inanely goggling eyes loomed up over the treetops, opened cavernous jaws that could have accommodated the Arc de Triomphe with ease, and began sucking in the pond. Gauche broke into a sweat and laid on the oars. Meanwhile it transpired that events were not taking place in the park at all, but in the middle of a boundless ocean. The oars buckled like straws, Mme. Gauche was jabbing him painfully in the back with her umbrella, and an immense gleaming carcass blotted out the entire horizon. When it spouted a fountain that eclipsed half the sky, the commissioner woke up and began fumbling around on his bedside table with trembling fingers--where were his pipe and those matches?

Gauche had first laid eyes on the golden whale at the Rue de Grenelle, when he was examining Lord Littleby's earthly remains. The Englishman lay there with his mouth open in a soundless scream--his false teeth had come halfway out and his forehead was a bloody soufflé. Gauche squatted down: He thought he had caught a glimpse of gold glinting between the corpse's fingers. Taking a closer look, he chortled in delight. Here was a stroke of uncommonly good luck, the kind that...

Reading Group Guide

1. What criteria does Gustave Gauche use in assembling his list of suspects? Are his inferences about the golden whale badge sound? Also, discuss what is at stake for Gauche in solving this case. Did you ever sympathize with his ambitions?

2. Evaluate the varying structure of the novel. Describe how its changing narrative viewpoints, and its digressions and seemingly trivial details (for instance, the news report on cholera), become important throughout the course of the investigation. Also, why do you think Akunin chooses to narrate the story from the perspectives of Gauche, Renate, Clarissa, Milford-Stokes and Aono, but not from that of Professor Sweetchild, the Truffos, or even Fandorin?

3. Renate Kleber complains that her tablemates are “a choice collection ofÉblooms, bores and freaksÉ [and] one lunatic” (126). How does Boris Akunin cast suspicion on each of the characters assembled in the Windsor Salon? What secrets are they each individually trying to hide?

4. Papa Gauche is proud of his title as “Inspector for Especially Important Cases” (54). Discuss the appropriateness of the detective’s name, and also how his ego and cultural prejudices thwart his progress. How does Gauche take a simplistic view of people and events?

5. Reginald Milford-Stokes calls the Leviathan “a miracle of a ship” (35). Describe this colossal ship and evaluate the significance of its name. Consider what features of a cruise ship — such as confinement, exoticism, luxury and social stratification -- make it a particularly good setting for a mystery.

6. Erast Fandorin cuts quite a dashing figure on board the Leviathan. Describe his appearance and the effect of his manners on the company assembled in the Windsor Salon. When and why does he stutter? What are his vulnerabilities, as confessed to Clarissa Stamp? And to what personal tragedy does he refer when he offers unwelcome comfort to Reginald Milford Stokes?

7. Gauche claims that the Paris police conducts its work “in accordance with the latest scientific method” (29). What tools do the inspectors have at their disposal? What is the Bertillon method, and what forensic advancement does Fandorin suggest instead? Compare the early work of detectives to our modern practices; how have scientific advancements like forensics and DNA changed the nature of crime solving? On the flipside, how has detective work remained the same?

8. Compare Fandorin’s logical method of detection with Gauche’s approach. Do you think it is unusual for a murder mystery to feature two detectives? What does this rivalry add to the plot?

9. Gintaro Aono claims that the Rajah Bagdassar’s jewels are the “greatest hidden treasure there has ever been in the whole of human history.” (95). Describe the Brahminpur treasure and its unfortunate fate, the mystery of its location, and the importance of Lord Littleby’s pilfered shawl.

10. Discuss the diagram drawn by Professor Sweetchild, which Reginald rescues from beneath the table in the grand salon. What did you initially make of the “palace” sketch, and what is the true meaning of the puzzle?

11. Many of the Windsorites display cultural prejudices common in their time. How does this chauvinism increase suspicion amongst the passengers, and how does it lead to false accusations and bungled investigations? More generally, discuss the theme of national pride in the novel.

12. Why does M. Aono try to commit suicide rather than defend himself against Gauche’s circumstantial charges? Why is honor so important to the samurai, and how do the Eastern and Western philosophies differ? What occasions Aono’s enlightenment, and how does he fulfill his “debt” to Erast Fandorin?

13. Who is the real Rue de Grenelle killer, and what complicates the murderer’s unveiling? Was this the outcome you suspected, or did you peg another Windsorite as the murderer?

14. 1.Do you think the colorful shawl possesses some sort of mystical power? Describe its hold on Renate, Renier, Gauche, and the rest of the Windsorites. Did you agree with Fandorin’s decision to “accidentally” lose the shawl through the ship’s window, or would you have kept it? Why are the others ultimately content to see the shawl disappear? Finally, what is the significance of Erast Fandorin’s parable of the three Maghreb merchants (on page 118) in relation to the treasure?

Editorial Reviews

Murder on the Leviathan harks back gratifyingly to the cerebral nature of this genre. . . . A nostalgically civilized spirit, even in the presence of murder.”
–The New York Times

“Intricate and marvelous . . . addictively dazzling . . . Akunin’s agile leaps of time, tone, and narrative style are matched by a frisky erudition: The book itself is a luxury literary cruise.”
–Entertainment Weekly

“Fiendishly witty . . . [Akunin] knows his Arthur Conan Doyle, and his Fandorin likes to indulge in showy displays of Holmesian observations.”
–Time

“A crafty puzzle in a sophisticated setting.”
–The New York Times Book Review

“Enjoyable . . . [with] a rich trove of historical details that are both fun to read and illuminating.”
–The Los Angeles Times Book Review



Praise for Boris Akunin:

“[Akunin’s Erast Fandorin] novels feature a Slavic Sherlock Holmes who speaks Japanese and English, is skilled at martial arts and has lady-killer good looks....Millions of readers have been seduced by the books’ elegant style and classy, retro feel.”
—The Wall Street Journal

“[Akunin is] the Russian Ian Fleming....[The Winter Queen] features abduction, villains, beautiful women and, of course, espionage....Akunin’s accomplished writing is a treat.”
—Ruth Rendell

“Akunin’s prose is clean and swift, pausing only to set a scene with a few well-chosen details before resuming the hairpin curves of the action. If Pushkin had tried his hand at detective ?ction, it might have turned out something like this.”
—The New York Times Book Review

“A warning to readers: after ?nishing this novel you will need more novels featuring Erast Fandorin....Akunin succeeds in transporting us completely into nineteenth-century Russia, yet the novel is a de?nitively modern mystery.”
—Matthew Pearl, author of The Dante Club

“A tasty dish...There are secret panels, hidden tunnels, a false mustache, intercepted letters, gun?ghts, and a glamorous female villain....Akunin knows how to build suspense, but he also enjoys himself; he shows the reader a good time.”
—The Boston Globe

“Marries old-fashioned manners to a nonstop array of plot twists to rival the best detective tales. The Winter Queen is an energetic hands-down winner.”
—People

From the Publisher