Sister Pelagia and the Red Cockerel

The third installment of the Sister Pelagia series: "whodunits that, because of their literary overtones, can be guiltlessly consumed as entertainment" ("Los Angeles Times")
Murder aboard the Sturgeon
Manuila, the leader of a mystical Jewish sect who claims to be the Messiah, is viciously murdered aboard a steamer bound for Jerusalem. But the badly beaten body is a decoy; the real Manuila is on his way to the promised land. And with a trail of enemies--and Sister Pelagia--stalking behind him, he is not alone.
Pelagia's search for Manuila and the murderer draws her into a series of mysterious caves in both the Russian forests and in Jerusalem. As she visits some of Christianity's most important sites, Pelagia learns the symbolism and value of a red rooster, knowledge that might reveal the true nature of Jesus himself.
With more than twenty-two million books sold worldwide, Boris Akunin enjoys near legendary popularity as one of the most "fluent, inventive, fun-loving, and confident" authors of our time ("Daily Telegraph, " UK). His layered and complex mysteries have earned him comparisons to Russian literary greats like Dostoevsky and Tolstoy, and his gripping page-turners have critics and fans asking for more.