I love surprises

I was pleasantly surprised to find that I liked Boris Akunin's Murder on the Leviathan more than his Winter Queen. I was surprised because the Amazon CW seemed to be that Murder was weaker. The book is clearly an homage to Christie, with 10 suspects having to stay in the same dining room/social room for meal time on a long steamship ride to India. You can probably tell if this sort of thing is your bag.

Last year the Independent interviewed Akunin and it is an illuminating interview. He states that happily puts anachronisms in his books (which will make historical fiction fans grind their teeth) because he wants you to know the books are about today not the 19h century in which they are set. One of the reasons he chose the Tsarist period is because back in the commie days you couldn't write books about that. There's more so be sure to read this one.