Boris Akunin's well-loved, inimitable hero faces two very different adversaries: one, a deft, comedic swindler and master of disguise, whose machinations send ripples spreading through the carefully maintained calm of Moscow in 1886. The other is a brutal serial killer, driven by an insane, maniacal obsession, who strikes terror into the heart of the Moscow slums in 1889 - and who may have more in common with London's own Jack the Ripper than simply a taste for women of easy virtue.

The daring Russian sleuth Erast Fandorin takes on two cunning adversaries. From the bestselling author of THE WINTER QUEEN.

Hugely entertaining, cunningly plotted detective novels ... clever, witty, wry page-turners to be commended to anyone with a taste for crime fiction