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 Londons 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, Fandorins Special Assignments will delight Akunins many thousands of fans, while testing their gentleman sleuths powers of detection to the limit.