A Gentleman in Moscow: A Novel

A Gentleman in Moscow: A Novel by Amor Towles

An aristocratic Count was placed under house arrest in a hotel at the time of Communist Revolution in Russia. He maintained his spirit even as things gradually changed. In the name of "equality" he was demoted from the suite to a regular room. The service of the restaurant steadily declined as communist principles overtook ability as means for employment. Eventually he eventually escape (which he does in part with an antique gun.) A girl which he had raised had defected to the US embassy while on a musical trip. It is a bit long, but has an interesting take on the communist revolution.

Tokyo Express: A Novel

Tokyo Express: A Novel by Seicho Matsumoto, translated by Jesse Kirkwood

An official and a woman appeared dead in an apparent love suicide. There were witnesses that saw them boarding a train and they later showed up dead.  It seemed fairly straightforward. However, the man was involved in a scandal. Could there be something else involved? The detective looked at the clues and everything seemed to stack up. However, things seemed to be just a little too good. There was also little evidence of the man and the woman in a relationship before they were seen at the train station. The detective was persistent and continue to investigate. The coincidences were just too much. Eventually he discovered that it was an elaborately set up murder organized in part by a dying woman who was obsessed with train scheduled. (They did happen to get the couple seen from a platform away in a rare time when there would be no train in between.) The perpetrator (a high ranking official and his wife) almost got away with it. Once they saw they would be caught they took their lives. It was a well done whodunit.