Description

RUSSIA, 1918

The young Soviet state is in turmoil. Chekists walk along the streets. Hunger, cold and mud crawl away in the former aristocratic quarters of Moscow. The old order has been turned upside down, leaving room for political infighting and dark subterfuge.

This is the world Erast Fandorin – the celebrated detective – wakes up to after three years in a coma. His faithful assistant Masa might have nursed him successfully back to life, but there is no guarantee that the old Fandorin, with his razor-sharp intellect and superhuman strength, will ever be back.

Determined to leave behind Moscow – a city he doesn’t recognise anymore – Fandorin embarks on one last great adventure. But who can he trust in a country torn apart by civil war?

Publisher Review

So, farewell then, Erast Petrovich Fandorin, Boris Akunin's vain, stammering, Quizotic sleuth, perhaps the most widely loved fictional detective of our time . . . As always, Andrew Bromfield does a heroic job . . . there are some surprisingly effective assaults on the emtions as Fandorin's story zigzags to its close * Daily Telegraph * The most playful, ingenious historical thriller series in modern publishing. * Guardian * A popular hero to equal Sherlock Holmes and James Bond . . . Akunin's finest creation and the star of his titles is Erast Fandorin - genius, gentleman, polyglot, kickboxer, and all-round inordinately lucky bloke. * The Times * The Erast Fandorin detective novels are always meaty, packed with historical detail, old-fashioned in the best sense and intricately plotted. * Daily Mail * One of the most distinctive characters in historical crime fiction... Twenty years after his debut, Fandorin remains a thoroughly engaging hero * Sunday Times *