Sister Pelagia and the White Bulldog

Boris Akunin is better known in the West for the Erast Fandorin novels, which is a shame, because the Sister Pelagia books are the more relaxed and in some ways the more lovable series. Pelagia is a young nun in a provincial Russian diocese, sent by her bishop to investigate when the local matriarch's prize white bulldog turns up poisoned.

What follows is half cozy mystery and half lightly satirical novel of Russian provincial life. The bishop is a wonderful character. The household is full of suspects in the classic mode. Pelagia is sharp without being modern about it, which is harder to write than it looks.

Translation can flatten this kind of book, and the English version sometimes does feel slightly more genteel than I suspect the Russian reads. But the structure is sturdy, the misdirection is fair, and the ending earns itself. Recommended if you like your detectives in habits and your atmospheres in samovars. Four stars.