Special Crimes

Boris Akunin, Special Assignemnts, 1999
Akunin's novels on the adventures of Russian detective Erast Fandorin are a pleasure to read. Setting them in the 1880s, Akunin enjoys veering them from humor to horror, pastiche to tragedy, in a matter of pages. Fandorin is blessed with uncanny good luck, strength, beauty and the mind to catch criminals, but the complications from his loved ones and life in Moscow often put him in dilemmas that are nearly impossible for him to resolve. It makes for an excellent page turner.

Special Assignements are two novellas that revolve around Fandorin's new assistant, Anisii Tulipov, and two very dissimilar criminals. The first novella is about the Jack of Spades, a conman as smart as Fandorin who enjoys duping the rich and the poor for high stakes. The second is about... Jack the Ripper! A perfect holiday read.