Erast Fandorin

Erast Fandorin is the eponymous protagonist of a highly popular Russian detective mystery series set in the 19th century. He starts off as a regular police clerk in Moscow in 1876 and eventually becomes a Great Detective of international renown, on one occasion employed even by the Tsar himself. Early in his career he exiles himself to Japan, learns the ways of the ninjas, and returns even more Badass than before. Later in his life, he becomes a technology Geek (while retaining his badassitude, of course) with a special fondness of Cool Cars.

The books were written by Boris Akunin (his real name is Grigory Shalvovich Chkhartishvili but it's too difficult to pronounce) and noted for their eloquent writing style, remarkable characters, intelligent mysteries, and countless references to Russian history and literature. Every book in the series belongs to a diffent subgenre of detective mystery (Government Conspiracy, Spy Drama, Professional Killer mystery, etc.). The novels are being translated into English by Andrew Bromfield, with The Diamond Chariot being the most recent to be published. Akunin has also written several novels set in the present day and starring Fandorin's grandson Nicholas Fandorin.

The series currently consists of following novels:


 * 1) The Winter Queen (1998, originally known as Azazel): Conspiracy mystery, set in Moscow and London in 1876.
 * 2) The Turkish Gambit (1998): Spy Drama, set in Bulgaria during the Russo-Turkish war of 1877.
 * 3) Murder on the Leviathan (1998): Closed Circle murder mystery, set on a Cool Boat en route from Southampton to Calcutta in 1878.
 * 4) The Death of Achilles (1998): Professional Killer mystery, set in Moscow, 1882.
 * 5) Special Assignments (1999): Two novellas in a single volume:
 * 6) The Jack of Spades: Rather light-hearted Con Man mystery, set in Moscow, 1886.
 * 7) The Decorator: Extremely gory Serial Killer mystery, set in Moscow, 1889.
 * 8) The State Counsellor (2000): "Political" mystery, set in Moscow in 1891.
 * 9) The Coronation (2000): Blue Blood mystery, set in Moscow around the time of the last Tsar's coronation in 1896.
 * 10) She Lover of Death (2001): Driven to Suicide mystery, set in Moscow, 1900.
 * 11) He Lover of Death (2001): Dickensian mystery, taking place simultaneously with She Lover of Death.
 * 12) The Diamond Chariot (2003): Two interconnected novels set in reverse order:
 * 13) Part 1: Spy Drama, set in and around Moscow, 1905, during the Russo Japanese War.
 * 14) Part 2: A mix of political intrigue and hired killer mystery... IN JAPAN . Set in Yokohama, 1878.
 * 15) Jade Rosary Beads (2006): A collection of short stories, most of which are homages to famous detective mystery authors.
 * 16) "Shigumo": Sanyutei Encho homage, set in Yokohama, 1881.
 * 17) "Table-Talk, 1882": Edgar Allan Poe homage, set in Moscow, 1882.
 * 18) "From the Lives of Woodchips": Georges Simenon homage, set in Moscow, 1883.
 * 19) "Jade Rosary Beads": Robert van Gulik homage, set in Moscow, 1884.
 * 20) "The Scarpea of the Baskakovs": Arthur Conan Doyle homage, set near Moscow, 1888.
 * 21) "One Tenth Percent": Patricia Highsmith homage, set in Moscow, 1890.
 * 22) "Tea in Bristol": Agatha Christie homage, set in Bristol, 1891.
 * 23) "Dream Valley": Washington Irving homage, set in Wyoming, 1894.
 * 24) "Before the End of the World": Umberto Eco homage, set in the Russian North, 1897.
 * 25) "The Prisoner of the Tower, or A Short But Beautiful Journey of Three Wise Men": Maurice Leblanc homage, set in northern France, 1899.
 * 26) All the World's a Stage (2009): Theatrical mystery, set in Moscow, 1911.
 * 27) The Hunt for Odysseus: Set in Yalta, 1914. Only first chapter has been published so far.

Akunin also wrote an original stage play starring Fandorin, titled Yin and Yang.

The series provides examples of:

 * Agent Provocateur: The State Councilor novel contains enough of these to make Erast Fandorin swear he'll never take political cases again.
 * AKA-47: Fandorin usually uses a fictional "Herstal-Agent" revolver. It is small, flattish, accurate only at short distances, and holds seven cartridges - all in all, a revolver Expy of then-not-yet-designed FN-Browning M1900 (a.k.a. Browning No.1) semiautomatic. The name "Herstal-Agent" is a Shout-Out - Herstal being the Belgian town there FN firearms factory is located. From the later part of The Diamond Chariot and onwards Fandorin uses a Browning semiautomatic.
 * Anachronic Order: The entire series. The first 9 1/2 novels track Fandorin's life from 1876 to 1905--but Part II of The Diamond Chariot leaps back to 1878. The next book, Jade Rosary Beads, fills in Fandorin's adventures in the 1880s. Then with All the World's a Stage Akunin jumps forward to 1911 to pick up the progress of Fandorin's life again.
 * Anachronism Stew: Akunin does this on occasion deliberately, for humorous effect. The Winter Queen has Fandorin using a telephone in Moscow in 1876--the same year that the telephone was being invented in the United States.
 * Of note, however, is the fact that Fandorin is attributed numerous timeline appropriate advances in criminalistic science, or at least incorporating them into his methods as soon as they're invented elsewhere, much to the chagrin of criminals who have never heard of fingerprint tracing or telephone eavesdropping before. He also keeps ahead of the times in other ways - for example, he's nearly the only person who has an automobile in a turn-of-the-century Moscow.
 * Anti-Villain: Boris Akunin simply loves those (the latter part of his own pseudonym means "villain" in Japanese, but was redefined to mean "one who creates his own rules" as stated in The Diamond Chariot), so many if not most villains have shades of this to some extent or another.
 * Arc Number: 11 in All the World's a Stage
 * Arc Words: in every novel (with one exception) there's someone named Moebius. Among them there are a photographer, a Red Shirt policeman, a notarius... So far Boris Akunin has refused to explain whether the name has any special meaning.
 * On a lesser scale, "Azazel" in The Winter Queen. It doubled as a Title Drop in original Russian.
 * Asshole Victim: Merchant Eropkin (The Jack of Spades) is more like a Complete Monster Victim.]
 * Subverted in The State Councellor - everyone think of Hrapov as one, but he appears to be more of a Well-Intentioned Extremist (with a bit of Lawful Stupid mixed in)
 * Author Avatar: Mr. Freyby in The Coronation.
 * The character's name is also a bit of Bilingual Bonus for the tech-savvy: if you try to type "Акунин" ("Akunin" in Cyrillic) on a standard Windows Russian/QWERTY keyboard with the language set to English instead of Russian you will get "Freyby".
 * Author Appeal: Boris Akunin, real-life Japanophile and professional translator of Japanese into Russian, referenced Japanese culture often, starting with Aono in Murder on the Leviathan and continuing with Masa, Fandorin's sidekick starting with The Death of Achilles. But in The Diamond Chariot he takes it Up to Eleven, recounting Fandorin's adventures in Japan, inserting lengthy discussions of Buddhism and the way of the ninja, and towards the end forgetting the plot for an entire chapter where Fandorin and Masa study at a ninja training camp.
 * Badass Grandpa: Xavery Grushin in The Winter Queen and especially Death of Achilles, who also doubles as Old Master, Cool Old Guy, Retired Badass, and pretty much any of other benevolent Mentors.
 * Bad Guy Bar: The Katorga Taverne in the Death of Achilles.
 * Battle Butler: Masa fits this trope to the T.
 * Big Damn Heroes:  in The Winter Queen, Fandorin in The Jack of Spades.
 * Big Secret: half the characters in Murder on the Leviathan either have this or seem like it (which is enough to throw off the investigation).
 * Bittersweet Ending: Fandorin's victories seldom come without a price. Also, in a more specific example,.
 * In Murder on the Leviathan several of the main protagonists end up dead, one is gravely wounded, not counting ten victims of the murder that sets the whole plot in motion. The perpetrator is captured, also, the goal of the perpetrator,   is possibly lost forever.
 * Benevolent Boss: Prince Dolgorukoi.
 * Boisterous Bruiser: Ippolit Zurov (a somewhat darker example, given his Blood Knight and Byronic Hero tendencies).
 * The Book Cipher: Used by the German spy in The Death of Achilles.
 * Born Lucky: Fandorin himself. He suspects it's the universe's way of compensating for his father's very bad luck (and the resulting gambling debts).
 * Once Fandorin even uses this to check a suspicious lottery: he doesn't win and deduces that the lottery must be rigged.
 * When playing cards for the first time in The Winter Queen, he bet his life against Zurov's... Fandorin seemingly got a blank check from Fortune since.
 * It's pretty clear, though, that Zurov cheated, just like he did with the revolver Fandorin tried shooting himself with (Zurov's servant removed the bullets without anyone noticing).
 * But Now I Must Go: Disgusted with the corruption of Tsarist government, Fandorin spurns an offer to be chief of police in Moscow and quits at the end of The State Counsellor.
 * Call Forward: Repeatedly over the course of the series.
 * The main villain's prediction in The Winter Queen, about the violent, destructive ways that modernization and change will manifest themselves in the world if they are not managed, comes true in Russia in 1917.
 * In The Death of Achilles, Achimas muses how Out with a Bang would be acceptable for a French leader but dishonorable for a Russian one. Fast-forward 17 years later, to the death of French president Félix Faure...
 * "....There are already too many empires in the world--any minute now they will all start wrangling with each other." Doronin in The Diamond Chariot. He also foresees the collapse of those empires, as well as Japan's expansion into continental Asia and confrontation with Russia.
 * The last line of The Coronation is spoken by Mr. Freyby, who correctly guesses that Nicholas II will be "the last of the Romanovs".
 * Cannot Spit It Out: Gintaro Aono in Murder on the Leviathan, about . This got him arrested,.
 * Camp Gay: Lord Banville and Mr. Carr in The Coronation.
 * Especially Mr. Carr. Lord Banville borders on the Macho Camp.
 * Cartwright Curse
 * Catch Phrase: Not exactly, but Fandorin's characteristic way of reaching a Eureka Moment by deduction: "The suspect did so-and-so - that is one. The car was parked at the corner of this and that street - that is two..."
 * The Cavalry: A literal example in The Turkish Gambit: Sobolev's Cossacks arrive to rescue Fandorin and Varvara from the Bashi-bazouks.
 * The Chessmaster: Marie Sanfon in 'Murder on the Leviathan'.
 * Completely Different Title: The original Russian title of The Winter Queen is Azazel, a reference to the secret society at the center of the mystery. The English title is a random reference to a hotel Fandorin stays at.
 * Con Man: Momos.
 * Cool Car: What counts for one back in the 19th century...
 * Cool Old Guy: Prince Dolgurokoi. He gets a Crowning Moment of Awesome when he shocks his fellow aristocrats by sitting next to a fire-breathing young revolutionary at a dinner and arguing politics, and at the end she comments 'what a nice old man', shocking Fandorin in turn.
 * Crime After Crime
 * Culture Clash:
 * Between the Japanese and the Europeans (including Russians).
 * Also, in The Death of Achilles, between Anabaptist German refugees and Muslim Chechen natives.
 * Cultured Badass: Fandorin
 * Cursed with Awesome: Fandorin's luck at gambling.
 * Cut Short: Possibly the fate of the series for English-speaking readers. The British publisher of the Fandorin series ominously refers to The Diamond Chariot as the "finale", despite the fact that two more books have been published in Russia with at least one more on the way.
 * Dashed Plotline: The first half of part two of The Death of Achilles, which describes Achimas' life until his Moscow assignment, jumps many years between significant events in his youth, his turn to crime, and major assassination missions.
 * Also, the series as a whole, which follows Fandorin at the key points of his career and life.
 * Dead All Along: Though never confirmed due to lack of Omniscient Narrator, it is heavily implied that, recipient   from ''Murder on the Leviathan" is actually dead. There are several clues related to this death before the denouement.
 * Death Seeker: a whole club of these in She-Lover of Death... although their sincerity rather differs.
 * A Death in the Limelight: Fandorin is the POV character for most of the second part of The Diamond Chariot, but three of his fellow investigators get their own POV chapters, in order, where each of them is killed off.
 * Detective Mole:  in The Winter Queen.
 * Determinator: Achimas Welde, Mr. Green
 * Diabolical Mastermind: Dr. Lind is Fandorin's personal Arch Nemesis, much like Prof. Moriarty was to Holmes.
 * Disproportionate Reward
 * Does Not Like Women: There's speculation that Dr Lind is this due to the fact that his gang only contains men.
 * Dub Name Change: Charles d'Hevrais became Charles Paladin in Bromfield's translation of The Turkish Gambit (justified because ). Later, Anisiy Tulpanov became Anisiy Tulipov (because "tulpan" is Russian for "tulip" and Anisiy's family is explained to have been named after that flower).
 * Duel to the Death: Colonel Lukan vs. D'Hevrais in The Turkish Gambit, Fandorin vs. Bullcox in The Diamond Chariot
 * Estrogen Brigade Bait: D'Hevrais in The Turkish Gambit
 * Even Evil Has Standards: Revolutionary terrorist Mr. Green doesn't mind killing cops and government officials, but refused to kill a servant.
 * Cops and officials were considered enemies of the people by the revolutionaries while servants were treated like 'the oppressed class'.
 * Even the Guys Want Him: Erast Fandorin
 * Eureka Moment
 * Expy: Miss Palmer for Miss Marple.
 * Several Expies for historical figures - Sobolev for Skobelev in for example.
 * False Reassurance: In The State Councellor Big Bad gives to Fandorin a Hannibal Lecture and then offers a choice: fight him, join him or just keep silent. Fandorin chooses to keep silent. Where is the catch? Fandorin holds information that could save Big Bad's life.
 * Femme Fatale: Amalia Bezhetskaya in The Winter Queen. Marie Sanfon in Murder on the Leviathan.
 * Fiery Redhead / : Ashlyn Calligan in "Dream Valley".
 * The Film of the Book: The Winter Queen, The Turkish Gambit and The State Counsellor were adapted either as short TV Series or movies. A new movie version of The Winter Queen is on its way.
 * Finger in the Mail: The Coronation
 * First Gray Hair: Clarissa Stump has a moment like this in Murder on the Leviathan, and it is implied to not be the first time. She rips it out but is immediately ashamed of herself being in denial about her age.
 * Foreshadowing: A lot; one example that stands out is in The Coronation when Fandorin muses frantically on what a character was about to shout out about Dr Lind before being cut off, with his examples being treated as throwaway lines -
 * French Jerk: Gustave Gauche.
 * Freudian Excuse: Lampshaded by Gustave Gauche and used by in Murder on the Leviathan.
 * Frozen Flower: Fandorin turns into one of the rare male variety after the first book . He then thaws again in Diamond Chariot . His final thaw happens in All the World's a Stage... and apparently lasts.
 * The Fundamentalist: Mother Kirilla in the Before the End of the World.
 * Funetik Aksent: German, folk Russian and Japanese.
 * Funny Foreigner: Gintaro Aono in Murder on the Leviathan seems to be this, partly because of his ludicrous accent; it's handily subverted in the parts of the novel that are written from his point of view, though.
 * German Russians: Fandorin is from a Russified German family (originally "Von Dorn").
 * Goodbye, Cruel World: the scornfully nihilistic suicide note in the beginning of The Winter Queen. The villain's confession in Murder on the Leviathan.
 * Good Eyes, Evil Eyes: Achimas Welde has whitish, almost transparent eyes. (The TV adaptation gives him Mismatched Eyes.)
 * Government Conspiracy:
 * Also in
 * Gratuitous Japanese, subverted: All conversations Fandorin and Masa have in Japanese are perfectly correct and appropriate. The author being a professional Japanese interpreter and a japanophile helps.
 * Great Detective: At one point, Fandorin is pitted against Sherlock Holmes himself....
 * The Gunslinger: Erast Fandorin is type C, Washington Reed is type D.
 * Hannibal Lecture: In The State Counsellor Big Bad  gives a big Hannibal Lecture to Fandorin. It doesn't work.
 * Hero of Another Story: She Lover of Death and He Lover of Death are two completely separate mysteries being investigated by Fandorin at the same time.
 * Historical Domain Character: The Death of Achilles, The Coronation
 * Historical In-Joke: Many, many of them.
 * Heroic BSOD:
 * Heroic Fire Rescue: By Fandorin, as recounted by Angelina in The Decorator.
 * Homage: To many, many real-life and fictional Victorian-age characters and settings. There is a "Fandorin and Sherlock Holmes versus Arsene Lupin" short story, a "Fandorin versus Jack the Ripper" novel, a "Fandorin comes to the Old West" novella...
 * Pozharsky's full name (Gleb Georgievich Pozharsky) is notable similar to Zheglov's full name (Gleb Georgievich Zheglov).
 * Honor Before Reason: George Devyatkin in All the World's a Stage.
 * How We Got Here: The Coronation opens with a climactic shootout between Fandorin and Dr. Lind.
 * If I Can't Have You: When the passengers in Murder on the Leviathan start fighting over the Indian shawl McGuffin it's heavily implied that Fandorin deliberately let it blow out of the window to be lost at sea.
 * A straighter example can be found in the latest book, All the World's a Stage, where.
 * Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: in The Winter Queen.
 * Imperial Japan
 * Ingesting Knowledge: Samsonite is a chemical invented by Samson Fandorin, an ancestor of Erast Fandorin, in "Quest". Drinking it reforms connections in the brain in such a way that the user acquires new information - for example, "hears" a message from Fandorin. It can also contain general knowledge (in the novel, Russian language and culture).
 * In Which a Trope Is Described: Chapter titles for the first half of The Diamond Chariot.
 * It Will Never Catch On: In the second (1878) part of The Diamond Chariot, Fandorin regards the notion that Japan could transform itself into a great power in thirty years as "simply laughable".
 * I Was Just Passing Through
 * I Owe You My Life: Gintaro Aono in Murder on the Leviathan, much to Fandorin's amusement. Later, and more permanently, Masa.
 * It Works Better with Bullets: In the first novel, Count Zurov tricks Fandorin into committing a suicide of honor. However, it turns out to be a Secret Test of Character (whether Fandorin would really go as far as shooting himself), since Zurov's butler removes all bullets from the revolver while everybody's looking the other way.
 * Jack the Ripper: "The Decorator" from Special Assignments
 * Jerkass: Colonel Lukan in The Turkish Gambit
 * Karmic Death:  in The State Counsellor
 * Large Ham: Ippolit Zurov, Prince Pozharsky.
 * La Résistance: The "Combat Group" and other revolutionaries from The State Counsellor. Notably, the revolution is portrayed in slightly gray shades here.
 * Life Will Kill You: In the first Erast Fandorin novel, Count Zurov tells the protagonist about a friend he had once, an army officer who participated in the most brutal fights but died in the peacetime of an accidental alcohol poisoning.
 * Locked Into Strangeness: Fandorin's temples go completely gray by the end of the first novel and remain so until the end of his life.
 * Love Makes You Dumb: happens to Fandorin in All the World's a Stage
 * Love Makes You Evil: happens to the villain in the same novel.
 * MacGuffin:  in Murder on the Leviathan.
 * Mad Scientist: Doctor Blank in The Winter Queen.
 * Made of Iron: Mr. Green.
 * The Man Behind the Man:  in Murder on the Leviathan.
 * Manipulative Bastard:  in The State Counsellor
 * Market-Based Title: Leviafan was initially directly translated as Leviathan, but for the paperback was changed to Murder on the Leviathan in a possible case of Viewers are Morons.
 * There were already several books titled Leviathan on the English market, so this was likely done to avoid confusion that could hamper sales.
 * 'Azazel' is another example - partially to avoid religious tensions on US market.
 * Master of Disguise: Fandorin, also Momos in The Jack of Spades.
 * Meaningful Name: Subverted with Mr Green of The State Counsellor; he's a synaesthesiac, so you might think he's called after the colour he perceives himself to be - but in fact he sees himself as grey, and his Nom De Guerre is just a contraction of his real surname Grinberg, as well as after Ignacy Hryniewiecki, the assassin of Tsar Alexander II, whose surname is written "Grinevitski" in Russian.
 * The author's pseudonym is spelled in Japanese as '悪人', which means 'an evil man'. Make of this what you will.
 * Milkman Conspiracy: The sinister Azazel conspiracy in The Winter Queen turns out be.
 * Mood Whiplash: The Jack of Spades, the first novella of Special Assignments, is a lighthearted comic mystery about a pair of con men/thieves. The Decorator, the second novella, is about a vicious Serial Killer.
 * Mother Russia Makes You Strong: Fandorin runs into this stereotype every now and then; he is a walking subversion, though. Then there is Ippolit Zurov (who could be intelligent and gallant, but often isn't).
 * Motive Rant
 * My Country, Right or Wrong: Fandorin himself has this to some extent, as do some other characters otherwise critical of the Tsar's government and policies. On the other hand, averted with.
 * Names to Run Away From Really Fast: mostly averted, except with a huge scary thug called John Morbid.
 * Invoked Trope in All the World's a Stage - theatrical actor who plays the villains uses the stage name Mephistov.
 * Ninja: Fandorin and.
 * No Party Like a Donner Party: this is the backstory of.
 * Noble Bigot with a Badge: Gustave Gauche,.
 * Not So Different: Fandorin and Anwar Effendi.
 * Obfuscating Stupidity: in Murder on the Leviathan.
 * Of Corsets Sexy: The young, naive Fandorin of the first book buys a male corset after hearing its snake-oil claims of improving health... which technically turns out to be true, as it later saves his life by deflecting a knife.
 * In a Crowning Moment of Funny, Ivan Brilling then decides that the entire Russian police force should be issued them...
 * Officer and a Gentleman: Several in The Turkish Gambit, but especially Sobolev.
 * Orthodox Christianity: Less relevant than in Akunin's other series starring Sister Pelagia, but plays an important role in the setting and occasionally the plot.
 * Outlaw Couple: Momos and Mimi in The Jack of Spades.
 * Out with a Bang: Invoked Trope and Exploited Trope in The Death of Achilles.
 * Painting the Fourth Wall: Newspaper articles are shown as two columns of text. Gintaro Aono's segments in Leviathan are printed sideways, suggesting the way in which Japanese is written and/or Aono's Fish Out of Water alien worldview among the Europeans.
 * Politically-Incorrect Villain: Izhitzov in The Decorator. Suverted when the book makes clear that his opinions are shared by the society around him and because he stops antagonizing Fandorin shortly after making those opinions clear.
 * The Power of Love: Very cynically exploited by.
 * Professional Killer: Achimas in The Death of Achilles
 * Public Domain Character: Erast runs into Sherlock Holmes and Arsène Lupin during the course of his adventures.
 * And Comedy/Tragedy reveals that Horatio was a Von Dorn
 * Reconstruction: Of Russian detective fiction.
 * Russian Roulette: Fandorin always wins this one. Notably the first book claims that it's actually American Roulette, and only became renamed thanks to the events therein...
 * Samus Is a Girl: The Coronation
 * Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Washington Reed at the end of "Dream Valley".
 * Serial Killer: The Decorator.
 * Speech Impediment: Fandorin started stuttering after the first book; the stutter disappeared in the more critical moments, unnerving his conversants.
 * Spy Drama: The Turkish Gambit, The Diamond Chariot
 * Starts with a Suicide: The Winter Queen
 * Star-Crossed Lovers: Anti Villains Mr. Green and Needle in The State Counsellor
 * The Stoic: Several villains fall into this area, notably Achimas Welde from The Death of Achilles and Mr. Green from The State Counsellor. Fandorin himself is one compared to other characters, but tends to break from Emotions vs. Stoicism much more easily than the villains.
 * Strangers on a Train Plot Murder: "One Tenth Percent" from Jade Rosary Beads
 * Street Urchin: Senka Skorik in He Lover of Death
 * Strictly Formula, In-Universe: In All the World's a Stage, Director Stern admits that writing plays based on the same ten archetypes is the key to his success. He even has a permanent cast, each of whom exactly matches one of said archetypes (including himself).
 * Stylistic Suck: Caliban's poem about meat-seeking dead sailors in She-Lover of Death, while quite creepy, is very much this.
 * Stuttering Into Eloquence: Erast.
 * Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome: Many times:  Boris Akunin loves this trope.
 * The Summation: But of course. Also, subverted in Murder on the Leviathan when Gustave Gauche gave just such a summation when he thought he solved the case (with 1/3rd of the book still to go)... only to be completely and thoroughly overturned by Erast Fandorin.
 * Switching POV: Murder on the Leviathan cycles through several different POV characters.
 * The Death of Achilles is divided into two parts. The first part is Fandorin's investigation (using Fandorin as the POV character, for the first time since The Winter Queen). The second part is from Achimas's (the villain's) POV, in which we learn his life story and then go through the events of the first part from his POV. Then there's a climactic chapter that switches back and forth between Fandorin and Achimas's POV as they have their confrontation.
 * In the first (1905) part of The Diamond Chariot the POV switches back and forth between Fandorin and the Japanese spy he's chasing. Also happens in the second (1878) part, see A Death in the Limelight above.
 * Sympathy for the Devil: Fandorin towards Momos in The Jack of Spades
 * Taking You with Me: Averted at the eleventh hour in The Winter Queen.
 * Played straight in The State Counsellor.
 * Tear Off Your Face: The Diamond Chariot, twice.
 * Technical Pacifist: Washington Reed
 * Ten Little Murder Victims: a variation: the French detective in Murder on the Leviathan was sure that the murderer he was chasing after was somewhere on the large ship, and made sure to have his primary suspects assigned to the same salon to keep an eye on them. Then played straight when one of those suspects was killed too.
 * They Look Just Like Everyone Else: The Decorator.
 * They Were Holding You Back: The Decorator.
 * Together in Death:  in The State Counsellor
 * Translation Train Wreck: The titles of the eight and ninth novels were rendered less than elegantly in English. In the original Russian they translate to Mistress of Death and Lover of Death. Instead they were published, oddly, as She Lover of Death and He Lover of Death.
 * Treacherous Advisor:  in the first novel; Fandorin still ended up borrowing from his deductive method and manner of speech, though.
 * Tsarist Russia
 * Turks With Troops: The Turkish Gambit
 * Tyke Bomb: In the first book,  is making them in numbers. Notable exemplars are Anvar Effendi and.
 * Prize Letdown: Fandorin won a huge ugly wooden clock that won't fit into his room in a lottery, much to his own horror.
 * Unreliable Narrator: several in Murder on the Leviathan (not quite narrators in 3 out 5 cases, but the perspective shifts to them and the unreliability is there), but especially Lord Milford-Stokes.
 * Viewers are Morons: The most likely explanation for the retitling of the first and third novels (in Russian, respectively, Azazel and Leviathan to The Winter Queen and Murder on the Leviathan.)
 * Vomiting Cop: Fandorin himself, on his first crime scene and also in the opening scene of The Decorator.
 * The Watson: Anisiy Tulipov
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist: The Big Bad of the first novel, definitely qualifies for this trope. As does  from the second novel, what with being the former's pupil. The revolutionary Mr. Green may also qualify.
 * Yakuza: The Diamond Chariot. Masa is a former criminal, whose life and honor Fandorin accidentally saved.
 * You Got Murder: The ending of the first novel.