"The great adventure of Erast Petrovich Fandorin, told by his permanent assistant Masahiro Shibata, began on the first day of the twentieth century. They just had to compete with the most famous detective in England and the most famous criminal in France, and now a new contest of minds is coming. The great detective has been challenged, and Masa does not yet know what spiritual upheavals await both of them. Many years later, he tells this story, full...

"Ėto ne prosto kniga, a literaturnai︠a︡ igra, v kotoroĭ glavnoe zavisit ot samogo chitateli︠a︡. Posle pervoĭ glavy vam pridetsi︠a︡ vybiratʹ, kakoĭ dorogoĭ poĭti dalʹshe. Povernutʹ nazad budet uzhe nelʹzi︠a︡ -- sovsem kak v zhizni.Kuda vy v kont︠s︡e kont︠s︡ov popadete -- k khėppi-ėndu ili v mogilu, v raĭ ili v ad, -- budet zavisetʹ ot prini︠a︡tykh vami resheniĭ. A eshche ėto test, po itogam kotorogo vy poluchite...