'Quirky and colourful' Times Crime Club
'An absolute delight' L C Tyler
'This intriguing but charming murder mystery is packed with psychological depth and wonderfully-drawn characters' Eleanor Ray
'A cast of colourful characters decorate this cosy Siberian crime' The Sun Winter has come early to the tiny Siberian village of Roslazny, but for Olga Pushkin, aspiring writer and Railway Engineer (Second Class), it only makes leaving the harder. Olga is being forced overseas by her jealous superior, and now faces two years in exile from her beloved rail-side hut, her white-breasted hedgehog Dmitri, and Vassily Marushkin, sergeant-in-charge at the tiny Roslazny police station.
Fate seems to intervene when Olga's train crashes outside Roslazny, shutting the line and killing two on board - local celebrity Danyl Petrovich and his wife, Anoushka. But Vassily Marushkin soon discovers that the Trans-Siberian locomotive was derailed on purpose. As the weather closes in, trapping the villagers - and the suspects - inside, Vassily begins a murder investigation in which Olga and her long-lost friend, Nevena Komarov, soon become closely involved.
But murder and extreme weather isn't all Olga has to deal with. Recalcitrant publishers, haunted police stations, and embarrassing online exposés combine to make this early winter a particularly challenging one - with the threat of a forced departure still looming as soon as the weather lifts. Can Olga find out who killed the Petroviches, secure the release of her book, exorcise the ghost, and save her job, all at the same time?
'The whole atmosphere of the village and the two main characters... are evoked with charm and panache A novel to treasure' A. N. Wilson Praise for Death on the Trans-Siberian Express 'The book is an absolute delight, evocative equally of the frozen steppes, bad vodka and worse sausage, and full of larger than life characters. Olga Pushkin is an endearing protagonist, who is hopefully set for a series as long as the Trans Siberian Railway.' L C Tyler
'Written with a warmth that would thaw Siberia, this intriguing but charming murder mystery is packed with psychological depth and wonderfully-drawn characters. It also features the best hedgehog I've met in a novel.' Eleanor Ray
Conor Farrington is a debut novelist with eclectic interests ranging from contemporary British politics to the life and work of Franz Liszt. Following a childhood in rural Scotland and degrees at St Andrews and Edinburgh Universities, Conor did a PhD in Latin American politics at Cambridge, involving extended periods of fieldwork in Ecuador and a stint as a Research Associate at Harvard University. He stayed on at Cambridge for post-doctoral work, teaching on British and American politics. Conor is a keen traveller, and the Olga Pushkin series was inspired by his experience of the Trans-Siberian railway in 2015 and the Silk Route by rail in 2017. Conor wrote the first novel in the series while on parental leave looking after his daughter Acacia. He and his family currently split their time between Cambridge and Cape Town.
