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Two new adventures for Boris Akunin's well-loved, inimitable hero in which Erast Fandorin 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, and the other 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.Peopled by a cast of eccentric characters, and with plots that are as surprising as they are inventive, Fandorin's 'Special Assignments' will delight Akunin's many thousands of fans, while testing their gentleman sleuth's powers of detection to the limit.
'Fandorin [is] a debonair combo of Sherlock Holmes, D'Artagnan and most of the soulful heroes of Russian literature...Andrew Bromfield's translation is key to maintaining the entertaining period pastiche...Fandorin is very much a figure from the time of his creation: an all-knowing yet taciturn functionary with a past in espionage and a love of Japanese martial arts working in a Russia beset by internal division.'
Roger Perkins
SUNDAY TELEGRAPH (19.2.07)
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