'A quirky and colourful investigation that reveals the corruption and tragicomic antics of Putin's kleptocratic state.'
Mark Sanderson, The Times
Richard Osman meets Leo Tolstoy in this exciting new series from C.J. Farrington.
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-rouble coins. Another death soon follows, and Sergeant Vassily Marushkin, the 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?
Death on the Trans-Siberian Express was Book of the Month in December 2021 at Goldsboro Books and a Waterstones Best New Fiction/Best Crime Hardback pick for 2022, and is available in hardback, in paperback, in audiobook, and on Kindle now - order here.
The second book in the series, Blood on the Siberian Snow, was released in hardback on 29th November and is a Waterstones Crime Book of the Year for 2022 as well as a November/December Best Book Pick - order in hardback, in audiobook, and on Kindle here.
Mark Sanderson, The Times
Richard Osman meets Leo Tolstoy in this exciting new series from C.J. Farrington.
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-rouble coins. Another death soon follows, and Sergeant Vassily Marushkin, the 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?
Death on the Trans-Siberian Express was Book of the Month in December 2021 at Goldsboro Books and a Waterstones Best New Fiction/Best Crime Hardback pick for 2022, and is available in hardback, in paperback, in audiobook, and on Kindle now - order here.
The second book in the series, Blood on the Siberian Snow, was released in hardback on 29th November and is a Waterstones Crime Book of the Year for 2022 as well as a November/December Best Book Pick - order in hardback, in audiobook, and on Kindle here.
