This paper aims to answer the question of recent changes in the use of Estonian past tense forms. In order to address the problem, five novels by Russian author Boris Akunin, and their translations into Estonian are mainly analyzed, as, so far the influence of bad translations from Russian has been considered the main reason for the lack of usage of Estonian compound tenses. In analyzing the works, more attention is paid to the use of four types of perfect forms proposed by Bernard Comrie. Because the most complicated situation is when/where translators have to choose among the past tense forms. Nevertheless the analysis demonstrates that actually the use of compound tense forms is not such a rare phenomenon as one might think. In most of the cases it depends on the strategy of a particular translator.