From the Bookshelf of Reading the Detectives

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Start date
September 15, 2025
Finish date
October 6, 2025
Discussion
Buddy reads
Why we're reading this
This series has gained some fans in our group.

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Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 478 topics — 9,231 comments total
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By Susan · 17 posts · 11 views
last updated 19 hours, 52 min ago
* Willful Behaviour - SPOILER Thread - (Brunetti #11) (Oct/Nov 25)
By Susan · 3 posts · 7 views
last updated 19 hours, 51 min ago

What Members Thought

Susan
Sep 19, 2025 rated it really liked it  ·  review of another edition
This is the fifth book in the Erast Fandorin mystery series and includes two novellas. These are told mainly from the point of view of young Anisii Tulipov, who is raised from being a lowly deliverer of reports to an assistant to Fandorin.

The first novella features a conman named the Jack of Spades. This is a fairly light-hearted story. The conman's antics lead to the Tsar's visit having to be postponed, throwing Moscow into a frenzy and resulting in Fandorin having to save the case.

The second
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Nancy Oakes
This book is actually 2 novellas, if you will, containing two different stories.

In story #1, "The Jack of Spades," Fandorin is up against a clever con man whose calling card is the jack of spades. He leaves it behind when he has pulled off a very successful swindle, and things come to a head when an Englishman is swindled out of a huge amount of money that the government must repay. Enter our hero and his new assistant, Tulipov. This one was pretty light hearted and very enjoyable to read.

Stor
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Sandy
Two very different novellas: one light and frothy, the other dark and gory.
Leslie
Apr 28, 2020 rated it really liked it
Whether it was my lowered expectations or my mood or the book itself, I was pleasantly surprised by this 5th book in the Erast Fandorin series.

The book consisted of two loosely connected novellas: "The Jack of Spades" and "The Decorator". In both of these, Fandorin is joined by Anisii Tulipov - a character I much enjoyed. Of the 2 novellas, I preferred the first one which was clever and humorous. The second story was much darker and more shocking.
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Carissa
Apr 06, 2012 rated it it was amazing
Chinook
Nov 24, 2012 marked it as to-read
Shelves: 1-kindle
Toni
Jan 05, 2013 marked it as to-read
Anna
Dec 23, 2015 is currently reading it
Gary Vassallo
Jul 24, 2016 marked it as to-read
Neer
Jan 14, 2017 marked it as to-read  ·  review of another edition
Shelves: a-room-of-my-own
Heather
May 19, 2020 marked it as to-read  ·  review of another edition
Shelves: own
Archanaa Ravikumar
Jan 02, 2021 marked it as to-read
Dipanjan
Oct 13, 2021 marked it as to-read
Shelves: own-in-kindle
Jill
Sep 09, 2024 marked it as to-read
Shelves: buddies
Judy
Sep 19, 2025 marked it as did-not-finish  ·  review of another edition