Source of book: Borrowed from the library
The adventures of Erast Fandorin continue…
I have written about several other books in this series, which I am reading in order. Here is the list - and I do recommend reading them in the correct order, because the story of Fandorin’s life unfolds along with the mysteries he solves.
In order:
This book is a bit unusual, because it actually contains two different stories, each about half the length of the usual novels. I am unsure whether to count this as one book or two books.
Anyway, the first is The Jack of Spades, and is a fairly humorous mystery about a skilled con man. The second is The Decorator, which is literally about Jack the Ripper, imagining that he was in fact a disgraced Russian medical student who goes crazy, and returns to Russia to continue his crime spree after leaving London.
The books are very different in tone. The first is lighthearted, and a true battle of wits between Fandorin and “Momos,” the con artist extraordinaire.
The second is lurid, breathtakingly violent, and littered (literally) with dead and mutilated bodies. I thought maybe the author was being gratuitous, but then I looked up the stuff on Jack the Ripper, and, well, Akunin is just using the police reports as sources.
I’ll look at each book in turn.
***
The Jack of Spades
I very much enjoyed this book. The plots and counterplots between Momos (apparently Russian for the ace of spaces) and Fandorin escalate throughout, until it becomes breathtakingly daring.
Interestingly, this is the rare case where Fandorin doesn’t entirely win. Rather, in one way of looking at it, Momos ends up winning in the end. (I won’t spoil it more than that.) At best, there is a stalemate, where everyone involved ends up agreeing to move on.
Furthermore, the action that sparks the end for Momos’ career in Moscow ends up being his ill-advised decision to prey on a notorious gangster and slumlord - someone with his own level of ruthlessness and lack of conscience.
One of the best things about this book is Fandorin’s sidekick, Mr. Tulipov. Unfortunately, he doesn’t get to stick around to the end of the next book, because I rather liked him as a character. And also because of his name, which is mentioned on page one.
And that surname, from the word tulip! It was simply a joke. He had inherited the ill-starred family title from his great-grandfather. When Anisii’s forebear was studying in the seminary, the father rector had the bright idea of replacing the inharmonious surnames of the future servants of the church with names more pleasing to God. For the sake of simplicity and convenience, one year he named all the seminarians after church holidays, another year after fruits, and great-grandfather found himself in the year of the flowers: someone became Hyacinthov, someone Balzamov, and someone else Buttercupov. Great-grandfather never did graduate from the seminary, but he passed the idiotic surname on to his progeny. Well, at least he had been named after a tulip and not a dandelion.
The case starts off with the conning of an English gentleman at the expense of the mayor of Moscow (who is Fandorin’s employer starting in the last book.) It really is embarrassing when the mayor purportedly has sold his mansion to an Englishman, and the Englishman in turn has paid millions of kopeks. Ouch.
Fandorin gets involved because the case would cause a huge scandal if it came to light. Discretion, of course, is Fandorin’s specialty. Well, that and a lot of other skills.
After Tulipov is dispatched with a message to Fandorin, he is hired for what seems like a dream job.
“From this moment on until the case of the Jack of Spades is closed, you will be at my disposal. We shall be working together for a while. I hope you won’t find it too b-boring.”
As if. Working for Fandorin may well get you killed, but it is never boring.
I also wrote down a line about a religious group that has a lot in common (politically and philosophically, not theologically) with American Evangelicalism: Russian Orthodoxy. Momos sets up a charitable lottery using the identity of a European Evangelical group. (The book is set in 1886, when European and American Evangelicals were more alike than they are now.)
And then the details had been important, of course. So that it wouldn’t just be an ordinary charitable lottery, but a European evangelical lottery. The Orthodox believers weren’t overfond of members of other creeds, but where money was concerned they trusted them more than their own - that was a well-known fact.
One big scene toward the end of the book is the one where Momos impersonates a hermit. I found it fun that the book he uses as a prop is Gulliver’s Travels, which he selected because the old copy was thick and looked impressive.
One final line from this book comes from Masa, Fandorin’s Japanese valet and assistant. (The author, like Fandorin, spent time in Japan, and worked as a translator before writing these books relatively later in life.) He and Tulipov are talking about Fandorin’s seeming depression after being foiled in his most recent attempt to defeat Momos.
“Need woman. With woman bad, without woman worse.”
As I said, this book is relatively light-hearted, quite humorous, and has an ending that is somewhat unexpected.
***
The Decorator
As I said, this book is a lot darker, and literally involves Jack the Ripper.
It starts with the discovery of a prostitute who has been murdered and carefully and meticulously eviscerated, with organs laid around her in an artistic manner.
And yes, this is literally from the case histories of Jack the Ripper.
The book is mostly from Tulipov’s point of view, but there are also episodes from the point of view of the Ripper, where he explains his bizarre religious views which lead him to his murders.
This book is definitely more of a classing whodunit sort of book, a more bloody version of Agatha Christie, perhaps.
There are a number of potential suspects, some red herrings, and enough clues to figure out who the perpetrator is if you pay attention.
And so many bodies. Too many bodies. And too many of them innocent women. (The murder of the nasty police inspector character is less traumatic.)
I didn’t enjoy this book quite as much. I’ve never been fascinated by psychopaths like Jack the Ripper, although I know people who go for that sort of thing. The fact that he was real doesn’t make it better either.
The ending is also a bit troubling, although it makes sense in context.
There is one line, though, that I thought was interesting. Fandorin and his current girlfriend, the devout Angelina, are discussing beggars and charity. Fandorin makes the (rare) mistake of thinking that beggars congregate around palaces because rich people give more. Angelina corrects him.
“No, poor people give more than the rich.”
Which is true. And Christ pointed it out as well - the story of the Widow’s Mite isn’t an admonition to give when you are poor, but an indictment of the way the rich give pennies and then feel generous.
Both books have a decent amount of social commentary mixed in, and it is generally good and relevant to all societies, not merely the Russia of the late 19th Century.
Although I didn’t love this book as much as the first one in the collection, it still was a worthy read. And those who like a bit more gore in their mysteries will probably love it.
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