This is one in a series of Russian crime mystery novels featuring Erast Fandorin, described in the blurb as "a 19th Century James Bond", I think he's more of a Russian Sherlock Holmes.
I haven't read any of the others, and picked this up randomly in a charity shop. It's quite good. The weird language quirks probably come from it being a translation (I don't read Russian), common to a lot of translated literature.
The 'Achilles' of the title, is a General in the army, who is seen as a hero for everyone to look up to. He dies in mysterious circumstances and it's up to Fandorin and his Japanese sidekick Masa, to work out what is going on, what's in the briefcase, how is the singer (and concubine) Wanda involved and how far does the intrigue stretch?
Fandorin gets through several disguises, a few murders and discovers a conspiracy that might just end with the Emperor! It's quite a fun read, well paced and at times a little silly (Masa seems to exist purely to provide comic relief).
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