Murder on the Leviathan by Boris Akunin

Murder on the Leviathan

Boris Akunin

An Agatha Christie-style murder mystery set on the world's largest ocean-going liner on her maiden voyage from Europe to India in 1878. An international cast of passengers all have something to hide and it is up to a mysterious Russian diplomat-cum-detective to trawl through the red herrings in a style reminiscent of Sherlock Holmes.

Extract
At the very moment when Renate finally decided to plunge her fork in to her cold sautee, the doors crashed open and the bespectacled professor burst into the dining room. He always looked a little crazy - either his jacket was buttoned crookedly or his shoelaces were undone - but today he looked a real fright: his beard was dishevelled, his tie had slipped over to one side, his eyes were bulging out of his head and there was one of his braces dangling from under the flap of his jacket. Obviously something quite extraordinary must have happened. Renate instantly forgot her own troubles and stared curiously at the learned scarecrow. Sweetchild spread his arms like a ballet dancer and shouted:
'Eureka, gentlemen! The mystery of the Emerald Rajah is solved!'
Parallels
  • Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
  • Any Sherlock Holmes novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle