Moscow 1876. A young law student commits suicide in broad daylight in Moscow`s Alexander Gardens. But this is no ordinary death, for the young man was the son of an influential industrialist. Erast Fandorin, a hotheaded new recruit to the Criminal Investigation Department, is assigned to the case. Brilliant, young, and sophisticated, Fandorin embarks on an investigation that will take him from the palatial mansions of Moscow to the seedy back-streets of London in his hunt for the conspirators.