Providing a glimpse into 1919 Kyiv during the four-year Ukrainian-Soviet war, The Silver Bone by Andrey Kurkov cleverly mixes a detective story with magical realism. 
After the death of his father, in an incident in which Samson Kolechko has his ear cut off by a Cossack soldier, the young man must adapt to life alone. But he isn’t alone for long. First, two Russian soldiers are billeted in his flat; second, items of his furniture are requisitioned. In search of his father’s desk – not just for its emotional significance but also because his severed ear rests in a tin in the desk drawer – Samson goes to the local police station to demand the desk’s return. Instead, he finds himself employed – without salary but with food vouchers, a uniform and a gun – as a detective. Receiving a course in marksmanship, but no training in criminal investigation, Samson begins his new job.
It turns out that his two lodgers are also thieves. When they go on the run, Samson gives chase. What follows includes a tailor, a silver bone and a suit for a person of unusual proportions. Some of this is quite surreal but hugely enjoyable, woven into the dour poverty, dirt and deprivation of wartime Kyiv. Despite being an untrained policeman, Samson is curious, writes excellent reports and takes action on assumptions rather than fact. This is an anarchic, funny, clever novel that doesn’t fail to surprise. Samson’s severed ear takes on a life of its own and it enables him to hear what is happening wherever the ear is. It’s very useful for a detective, like being in two places at once, and very disconcerting.
Samson soon acquires a group of expert witnesses who help in his search. His father’s tailor, an eye doctor and his new girlfriend Nadezhda, a mathematician who works on the census at the nearby statistics office. Each adds their own world-weary interpretation of Samson’s task. ‘It’s a shame to lead a senseless existence when the sense of your existence can bring some good to the world,’ says the retired fingerprint expert when asked to help.
Quickly read, this is so much more than a crime novel and, be warned, not the usual detective fiction. This is book one of Kurkov’s Kyiv Mysteries. Next is The Stolen Heart.
If you like this, try:-
‘Fortune Favours the Dead’ by Stephen Spotswood #1Pentecost&Parker
‘A Rising Man’ by Abir Mukherjee #1Wyndham&Banerjee
‘Butterfly on the Storm’ by Walter Lucius
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