Death on the Trans-Siberian Express (The Olga Pushkin Mysteries) [Goldsboro Exclusive]

by C J Farrington

Hardcover, 2021

Status

Available

Call number

823.92

Publication

Constable (2021), 336 pages

Description

Welcome to Roslazny - a sleepy Russian town where intrigue and murder combine to disturb the icy silence... Olga Pushkin, Railway Engineer (Third Class) and would-be bestselling author, spends her days in a little rail-side hut with only Dmitri the hedgehog for company. While tourists and travellers clatter by on the Trans-Siberian Express, Olga dreams of studying literature at Tomsk State University - the Oxford of West Siberia - and escaping the sleepy, snow-clad village of Roslazny. But Roslazny doesn't stay sleepy for long. Poison-pen letters, a small-town crime wave, and persistent rumours of a Baba Yaga - a murderous witch hiding in the frozen depths of the Russian taiga - combine to disturb the icy silence. And one day Olga arrives at her hut only to be knocked unconscious by a man falling from the Trans-Siberian, an American tourist with his throat cut from ear to ear and his mouth stuffed with 10-ruble coins. Another death soon follows, and Sergeant Vassily Marushkin, the brooding, enigmatic policeman who takes on the case, finds himself falsely imprisoned by his Machiavellian superior, Chief-Inspector Babikov. Olga resolves to help Vassily by proving his innocence. But with no leads to follow and time running out, has Olga bitten off more than she can chew?… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member cathyskye
Death on the Trans-Siberian Railway is a book that I wanted to like much more than I did. The mystery was intriguing and kept me guessing, and I did enjoy the setting and cultural insights into Siberian life; however, the author's writing style let his story down. There was too much tell and not
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enough show. In addition, the pace dragged and didn't show signs of life until past the halfway mark. The-- to me-- all-important cast of characters never really came to life either. Yes, Olga was the best of them all, and I did like getting to know her, but there were too many times when I felt that she was vying for sainthood. Her cretin of a boss, her verbally abusive father, her money pit of a best friend... Olga wants to be all things to all people whether or not they deserve it, and it was exhausting watching her tying herself in knots to please them all.

There is a second book in this series, Blood on the Siberian Snow, but I won't be reading it. I do, however, wish Olga well.
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Language

Original language

English

Physical description

336 p.; 9.29 inches

ISBN

1472133137 / 9781472133137

Local notes

Olga Pushkin, Railway Engineer (Third Class) and would-be bestselling author, spends her days in a little rail-side hut with only Dmitri the hedgehog for company. One day Olga arrives at her hut only to be knocked unconscious by a man falling from the Trans-Siberian, an American tourist with his throat cut from ear to ear and his mouth stuffed with 10-ruble coins. Another death soon follows, and Sergeant Vassily Marushkin, the brooding, enigmatic policeman who takes on the case, finds himself falsely imprisoned by his Machiavellian superior, Chief-Inspector Babikov.

Goldsboro Premiere December 2021 selection, signed by the author with trains tracks stencilled on blue sprayed page edges. One of 1500 numbered copies.

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