Review: Sister Pelagia and the White Bulldog

Sister Pelagia and the White Bulldog Amazon US TPB Amazon Canada TPB
Boris Akunin
Class/Genre: Mystery Woman Main Character Amateur Sleuth Historical Humorous
Series: Sister Pelagia
Random House / Mortalis

This latest translation of a work by the noted Russian mystery writer Boris Akunin features a different detective from his implausibly multi-talented Fandorin. Sister Pelagia is an insignificant little woman; not merely an unimportant nun, but an unimportant nun who lives in a peaceful rural province quite remote from Fandorin's powerful and usually urban circles. Like other easily overlooked but highly observant females such as Miss Marple and Miss Climpson, Sister Pelagia is very useful to a male authority who cannot investigate unobserved - nor, perhaps, observe others as well as a quiet and unobtrusive woman can. In this book, the authority figure is the highly respected Bishop Mitrofanii, who initially has a rather trivial problem for Sister Pelagia to solve. His elderly aunt is distraught over the mysterious poisoning of the white bulldog of the title. Of course, Sister Pelagia solves the mystery of the attack on the bulldog, but that solution leaves an even deeper and more serious mystery for her to unravel.

The great charm of this book lies in the little digressions into such topics as the proper qualities of bulldogs, particularly carefully- bred bulldogs, and the proper way to run a region so as to produce a maximum of peacefulness and a minimum of crime. These, and the deliberately old-fashioned language and style create a delightful effect. While there is little depth to some of the characters, the characterization works perfectly as first impressions - the reader feels like she has already met the old lady obsessed by her pets and her fantasies; the members of the little provincial clique convinced of their intellectual superiority as evidenced by their adherence to the fashionably radical political theories of the day; and the manipulator and troublemaker dispatched by a distant authority to investigate the local situation. All in all, this book is well worth reading, especially if you like a book set in an exotic time and place whose author reveals a wicked eye for human foibles.

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Cheryl - RAM

Book Review: Sister Pelagia and the White Bulldog