The daring Russian sleuth Erast Fandorin takes on two new cunning adversaries

'An absolute delight. Think Tolstoy writing James Bond with the logical rigour of Sherlock Holmes. A hoot' Guardian

The second Erast Fandorin mystery from Boris Akunin, shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger.

Canine conspiracies, spurned lovers, murderous greed, jealousy, politics, power and knitting: Pelagia and the White Bulldog marks the beginning of an addictively entertaining new crime series from the internationally bestselling author, Boris Akunin.

Trouble is on the horizon for State Counsellor Erast Fandorin when the reactionary Governor General of Siberia is murdered on a train. A dagger bearing the initials of a terrorist organisation is left thrust up to the hilt of the victim's chest, and witnesses allegedly see Fandorin fleeing the scene.

Grand Duke Georgii Alexandrovich arrives in Moscow for the coronation, with his children. Yet no sooner have the family settled in than they are ambushed by bandits and one of the children is snatched. Fandorin is plunged into a race against the clock.

Still a persona non grata in Moscow, ostracised by the authorities and shamed by the very qualified success of his last mission, Fandorin is back in his most underground enquiry to date.

Senka Skorikov, orphan and urchin, has been abandoned to the murky world of Moscow's gangster district. While picking a pocket or two, he glimpses the most beautiful woman he has ever seen, and joins the gang of her overlord lover, The Prince, so desperate he is to meet her.

Erast Fandorin - 'A popular hero to equal Sherlock Holmes and James Bond' (The Times)' - returns in the penultimate installment of the hugely popular historical mystery series.

THE LATEST NOVEL IN BORIS AKUNIN'S ERAST FANDORIN MYSTERIESAn action-packed mystery in which the stakes are far higher than ever before: can Fandorin capture a renowned criminal, save the Russian Empire and avoid a global war?