• Five Mysteries Set in Russia - Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
  • Five Mysteries Set in Russia - The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
  • Five Mysteries Set in Russia - The Shooting Party by Anton Chekhov
  • Five Mysteries Set in Russia - Five Plays: Ivanov, The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters, and The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov
  • Five Mysteries Set in Russia - Captain Ribnikov by Alexander Kuprin

Five Mysteries Set in Russia, recommended by Boris Akunin

The golden age of mystery largely passed Russia by, but that doesn’t mean there weren’t some great crime novels produced over the last 150 years. Bestselling crime novelist Boris Akunin, who was born Grigory Chkhartishvili in Soviet Georgia and now lives in exile in London, recommends five Russian mysteries—great works of literature that happen to also have a crime at their heart. If you’d like to see Boris/Grigory in person, he’s speaking at the Oxford Literary Festival on 18 March, 2024 at 6pm.

  • The Best Locked-Room or Puzzle Mysteries - The Hollow Man by John Dickson Carr
  • The Best Locked-Room or Puzzle Mysteries - Green for Danger by Christianna Brand
  • The Best Locked-Room or Puzzle Mysteries - Mrs. McGinty's Dead (1952) by Agatha Christie
  • The Best Locked-Room or Puzzle Mysteries - Bloodhounds by Peter Lovesey
  • The Best Locked-Room or Puzzle Mysteries - Snowblind by Ragnar Jónasson

The Best Locked-Room or Puzzle Mysteries, recommended by Tom Mead

In the Golden Age of mystery between the two World Wars, writers loved to devise fiendish plots where seemingly impossible crimes were committed. Tom Mead, author of two ‘locked-room’ mysteries set in the 1930s, introduces us to some of his favourite books in the genre, from the Golden Age itself to books written in more recent decades that pay tribute to its traditions.