Coronation

Grand Duke Georgii Alexandrovich arrives in Moscow for the coronation, accompanied by his children, as a daring abduction and intrigue unfold. When Xenia is snatched by bandits and four-year-old Mikhail soon disappears in the chaos, elegant heroics emerge in the form of Fandorin and his enigmatic companion Masa. A ransom letter from the international criminal Dr Lind—the Moriarty to Fandorin’s Sherlock Holmes—threatens to seize the Count Orlov, a colossal diamond on the royal sceptre destined to play a role in the ceremony. To buy time and secure the boy’s safe return, Fandorin proposes paying Lind in installments, pitching the case into a tense game of wits. Set in the lead-up to Tsar Nicholas II’s coronation, this swashbuckling thriller pits cunning against cunning, with danger, romance, and a question: will Mikhail be rescued before it’s too late? A vivid, tightly paced adventure featuring one of literature’s most stylish detectives.

Fandorin returns in a closely matched battle of wills and wiles.

• Swashbuckling tale of abduction and intrigue
• Set during the lead-up to the coronation
• Xenia’s rescue and Mikhail’s disappearance
• Ransom demands the Count Orlov diamond
• Fandorin vs. international criminal Dr Lind
• 368 pages, paperback, Orion Publishing Co