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The death of Achilles

When Erast Fandorin returns to his homeland, he becomes immediately involved in an investigation into a political murder aimed at overturning the established order. The motive for the murder is the cruel colonisation of the Caucausus and Chechnya, carried out by the Russians in the mid 20th Century. It is Fandorin's old friend from TURKISH GAMBIT who is unfortunate victim of the assassination.International intrigue, professional rivalry, the criminal underworld of nineteenth-century Moscow, and an irresistible femme fatale: if Erast Fandorin was hoping for a quiet homecoming, he is about to be disappointed. Erast Fandorin returns to Moscow after an absence of six years, only to find himself instantly embroiled in court politics and scandal. His old friend General Sobolev - the famous 'Russian Achilles' - has been found dead in a hotel room, and Fandorin suspects foul play. Using his now-famous powers of detection - powers that belie his twenty-six years - Fandorin embarks on an investigation, during which the political and the personal may become dangerously blurred. With the assistance of some formidable martial arts skills, acquired whilst Fandorin was in Japan, our eccentric and ingenious hero must endeavour to discover not so much whodunit, as why ...

Inʹ i i͡an : [chernai͡a versii͡a] ; Inʹ i i͡an : [belai͡a versii͡a]

She lover of death : the further adventures of Erast Fandorin

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. There's been rising consternation in fin-de-siecle Moscow over a wave of suicides among the city's young bohemians. An intrepid newspaper reporter, Zhemailo, begins to uncover the truth behind the phenomenon - that the victims are linked by a secret society, the Lovers of Death. But Zhemailo is not the only investigator hot on the heels of these disciples of the occult. Little do they realise that the latest 'convert' to their secret society, assuming the alias of a Japanese prince, is none other than Erast Fandorin. But when a young and naive provincial woman, Masha Mironova, becomes embroiled in the society, and Zhemalio dies a mysterious death, Fandorin must do more than merely infiltrate and observe. Especially when the spin of the Russian roulette wheel decrees that our dashing hero be the next to die by his own hand. Can Fandorin fake his own demise, all while outwitting the cult's dastardly leader? Find out in this fascinating journey through the dark underbelly of the fin-de-siecle.