The State Counsellor

The State Counsellor

Russian edition
Author	Boris Akunin
Original title	Статский советник
Translator	Andrew Bromfield
Language	Russian
Genre	Historical detective
Published	2000 2008 Weidenfeld & Nicolson (Eng. trans.)
Publication place	Russia
Media type	Print (Hardback)
ISBN	0-297-84823-2
OCLC	173498829
Preceded by	Special Assignments
Followed by	The Coronation

The State Counsellor (Russian: Статский советник, the 5th civil grade in the Table of Ranks of Imperial Russia) is the sixth novel in the Erast Fandorin historical detective series by Boris Akunin. It is subtitled "political detective mystery" (Russian: политический детектив). The State Counsellor was originally published in Russia in 2000. The English translation was published in January 2008.

Plot

Moscow, 1891. Disguised as Fandorin, the leader of a revolutionary organization murders a general. Fandorin has to catch him. He is assisted (or is it hindered?) in his investigations by Prince Pozharsky, a fictional descendant of Dmitry Pozharsky, who helped bring the Time of Troubles to an end.

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

Main article: The State Counsellor (film)

In 2005, The State Counsellor was turned into a film starring Oleg Menshikov as Fandorin and Nikita Mikhalkov as Prince Pozharsky. The two-hour theatrical release was then expanded into a 31⁄2 hour version which was shown on Russian television. It was one of the most expensive Russian films ever made.

External links

• Full text of the novel, in Russian
• Official website of the film (Russian)
• The State Counsellor at the IMDb
• Collection of stills from the film
• Russian article on the film, with stills
• English-language review of the film, from Variety
• Movie Trailer and Screenshots
• List of characters for the reader