General Khrapov, newly appointed Governor-General of Siberia and soon-to-be Minister of the Interior, is murdered in his official saloon carriage on his way from St Petersburg to Moscow. The killer, disguised as Fandorin, leaves a knife thrust up to the hilt in his victim's chest and escapes through the window of the carriage. Can Fandorin escape suspicion? A battle of wills and ideals, revolutionaries and traditionalists and good versus evil. Dashing hero Erast Fandorin returns for another intriguing Russian crimecaper, from the bestselling author of THE WINTER QUEEN.

Erast Fandorin returns in another thrilling Russian crime caper, from the bestselling author of THE WINTER QUEEN.
The Russo-Turkish war is at a critical juncture, and Erast Fandorin, broken-hearted and disillusioned, has gone to the front in an attempt to forget his sorrows. But Fandorin's efforts to steer clear of trouble are thwarted when he comes to the aid of Varvara Suvorova - a 'progressive' Russian woman trying to make her way to the Russian headquarters to join her fiance.