The fourth Erast Fandorin novel from Boris Akunin is another interesting read. Fandorin returns to Moscow after 6 years working in Japan. He is back less than 24 hours before he is once again thrust into mystery and adventure.
Once again Akunin uses a different style of mystery and for the most part he manages it well. Fandorin is as engaging as ever, and Masa, is servant, slowly grows on the reader. The exposition of the back story of the “villian” is interesting and could be longer and more detailed without harming the story. The only drawback to the entire novel is the last few chapters where the story is rushed as if to fit in a limited number of pages.