The State Counsellor: A Fandorin Mystery

Written by Boris Akunin

Narrated by Nigel Patterson

Russia, 1891. The new governor-general of Siberia has been secreted away on a train from St. Petersburg to Moscow. A blizzard rages outside as a mustachioed official climbs aboard near the city; with his trademark stutter, he introduces himself as State Counsellor Erast Fandorin. He then thrusts a dagger inscribed with the initials CG into the governor-general's heart and, tearing off his mustache, escapes out the carriage window. The head of the Department of Security soon shows up at the real Fandorin's door and arrests him for murder. The only way to save his reputation is to find CG—and the government mole who is feeding the group information. Can Fandorin survive corruption among his fellow officials, the fearlessness of an unknown enemy, and the advances of a sultry young nihilist with his morals intact? The State Counsellor is colorful entertainment from a master of the sly historical romp.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Highbridge Company
• Translator: Andrew Bromfield
• Release date: Jul 4, 2017
• ISBN: 9781681686189

Boris Akunin

BORIS AKUNIN is the pseudonym of Grigory Chkhartishvili. He has been compared to Gogol, Tolstoy and Arthur Conan Doyle, and his Erast Fandorin books have sold over forty million copies around the world. He lives in London and was awarded the Freedom to Publish award at the 2024 British Book Awards.

Reviews for The State Counsellor

[mcdenis-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

State Counsellor Erast Fandorin in his role as detective is charged not only to protect but also to bring to justice revolutionaries who are assassinating key political figures in the Tsar’s regime. The lengthy novel deftly moves the reader within the historical background of Imperial Russia and all its foibles and greedy intrigues. It is an excellent translation.

[polarbear123_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Always the same, always different. Every Fandorin mystery is unique but easily recognisable. WOnderful storytelling, revealing, deep but with an overwhelming sense of fun also. Anyone who loves a good mystery will lap this stuff up. Fandorin is a legendary character.

[ericlee_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I'm a great fan of Akunin and have read all his Erast Fandorin novels. This is in a way the most interesting of them all - and perhaps the last? Akunin in this novel takes on an aspect of the history of the tsarist police which he didn't touch in earlier books -- the infamous strategy of provokatsiia. Though he changes the names, anyone familiar with the history of the Okhrana will recognize super-agent Azef and his handlers. The book is extraordinarily relevant to today's "war on terror" and shows the tsarist regime as being too clever by half in its effort to manipulate rather than destroy the terrorist underground. I hope there will be more after this one ...