Maslin Watch: Monday Morning Mysteries

Maslin looks in on two international men of mystery, Boris Akunin and Alexander McCall Smith. Akunin's Murder on the Leviathan comes off as an interesting pastiche of "the kind of parlor-room intrigue that can bring to mind Agatha Christie, Sherlock Holmes or a game of Clue," and Maslin deftly zeroes in on a few details that make the story work--or, in the case of the replication of 19th-century ethnic stereotypes, stumble. Although it's a bit odd, perhaps, to say that Akunin's written one of "the most successful recent mystery series to have been imported to the United States from faraway lands" when this is only the second book in that series to have been translated into English and published here.

Of course, the description is much apter for Smith's chronicles of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, the latest of which is also treated rather deftly in a few short paragraphs. The juxtaposition of the two books is a tad flimsy, but not entirely out of line; if ever Marilyn Stasio should seek time off from her mystery rounding-up duties at NYTBR, Maslin may be right for the job.