Polina Dashkova
Genres
Detective Fiction
Biography
Polina Dashkova is Russia’s most successful crime author, with a total of 40 million copies of her books sold so far; in Germany alone, where she is known as the 'Queen of Russian Crime Fiction', she has sold more than 300,000 copies.
A graduate of Moscow’s Maxim Gorky Literary Institute, Dashkova has been an active radio and print journalist, and has worked as an interpreter and literary translator from English. She currently lives with her daughters in Moscow.
All Dashkova's novels are real page-turners that are uniquely credible thanks to the psychological depth of the characters and that show a commitment to realism in, for instance, the author's use of genuine statistics. Dashkova does not just churn out the same thing again and again, but switches between different types of crime novel in her own unique way.
Polina Dashkova has added a new territory to the map of crime fiction: exotic and chaotic new Russia. Dashkova succeeds in presenting thrilling scenes of life in contemporary Russia that makes the reader feel like laughing and crying at the same time. Her prose is subtle. Her dialogue is excellent. These novels are anything but pulp literature.
Books
- The Source of Happiness. Book 3. The Sky Over the Abyss / Источник счастья. Книга 3. Небо над бездной, 2010
- Point of No Return / Точка невозврата, 2010
- The Source of Happiness. Book 2. MISTERIUM TREMENDUM. A spine tingling mystery / Источник счастья. Книга 2. MISTERIUM TREMENDUM. Тайна приводящая в трепет, 2008
- The Fount of Happiness, 2007
- Game of Opinion / Игра во мнения, 2006
- Eternal Night / Вечная ночь, 2006
- Prize / Приз, 2004
- The Swing / Качели, 2003
- Sense of Reality / Чувство реальности, 2002
- Cherubim / Херувим, 2001
- Golden Sand / Золотой песок, 2001
- Place Under the Sun / Место под солнцем, 2000
- Blood of the Unborn / Кровь нерожденных, 2000
- Madness Treads Lightly / Легкие шаги безумия, 2000
- The Chechen Marionette or Corrupt Scum / Чеченская марионетка или продажные твари, 2000
- Seed Plot / Питомник, 2000
- Image of the Enemy / Образ врага, 2000
- Nobody Will Cry / Никто не заплачет, 1999
- Airtime / Эфирное Время, 1999
Sample translations
The Fount of Happiness (Источник счастья)