Head Over Heels

Boris Akunin, The Death of Achilles, 2005
Erast Fandorin's detective stories are my idea of perfect escapism. All the books are set in the later half of the 19th century - mostly in Russia - and feature a young, stuttering hero who is a mixture between Hercules Poirot, Sherlock Holmes and James Bond. In this fourth book of the series, Fandorin returns to Russia in 1882 after years of adventure in Turkey and Japan. He brings with him a loyal, if stubborn, sidekick and manservant called Masa who provides the novel's comic relief. By coincidence, Fandorin's old friend and Russian hero, General Sobolev (the "Russian Achilles") drops dead in the hotel they are staying in. Fandorin is not convinced that such a young and strong military man would die from a heart attack; he promptly begins an investigation against the wishes of many powerful men, unravelling a web of intrigue that links the government with the most vicious criminals in Moscow's underworld.

What I admire about Akunin's writing is the ease in which he conjures atmosphere from a bygone age while at the same time dishing out a page-turner. 19th century Moscow comes alive effortlessly, with its aristocratic salons, its cabarets and expensive escorts, its political intrigue. If you wish to escape reality for a while, you can't go wrong with this novel or any of the ones preceding it.