Count's written about Alpine heroine in Russian novel (3,5)
I believe the answer is:
the idiot
'russian novel' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'count's written about alpine heroine' is the wordplay.
'count' becomes 'tot' (totting is a kind of counting).
'written about' indicates putting letters inside.
'alpine heroine' becomes 'heidi' (I've seen this in another clue).
'tot' placed around 'heidi' is 'THE IDIOT'.
'in' is the link.
(Other definitions for the idiot that I've seen before include "Russian novel" , "Dostoevsky novel" , "Dostoyevsky novel" .)