A summary of Boris Akunin’s "The Pit" Automatic translate

This book was written in 2023. The story is told from the perspective of Masahiro Shibata, Erast Fandorin’s devoted Japanese ally, shifting the usual focus from the famous detective to the experiences and thoughts of his assistant. It is part of the "Adventures of Masa" series, being the second book in a series that focuses on the detective’s faithful friend. The text also seamlessly complements the larger "Adventures of Erast Fandorin" series, returning the reader to the events of the past.

Murder in a French Castle

The events begin on January 1, 1900. Erast Fandorin and Masahiro Shibata hastily flee the Château de Vaux-Garni, saving the owner, Monsieur des Essarts, from ruin. They are arrested by the local police, led by the young Brigadier Beauchamp. Soon, des Essarts himself appears, identifies the rescued treasure, and clears the detectives of suspicion.

As a token of gratitude, the host shows his guests a family heirloom — a portrait of the privateer Letitia von Dorn. Des Essarts mentions that a certain foreigner in green glasses persistently offered a huge sum of money for the painting, but was flatly refused.

The next morning, the monsieur is found murdered, and the portrait has vanished without a trace. Fandorin examines the body and proves that the crime was committed by a cold-blooded, high-class professional. The thief staged a robbery, but the painting was the true target.

Detectives identify the killer’s shoes and track down a young Englishman, John Jones, in the city of Saint-Malo. Cornered, the golden-haired teenager fatally wounds Brigadier Beauchamp with blades hidden in a bone case. He then attacks the detectives with a steel ball on a chain. Realizing his situation is hopeless, the young man commits suicide by attempting to blow up the group with a flask of nitroglycerin. Fandorin miraculously manages to shoot Jones before the explosion.

Paris tunnels and extortionists

Following the trail of the young killer’s adult accomplice, the heroes travel to Paris. They locate the Hotel Mirabeau, where Benjamin Aspen, the former director of the Essex Juvenile Correctional Facility, is staying. In an ambush, Aspen kills police agent Ibarra with a sword concealed in a bamboo cane and escapes into the Paris Métro tunnels under construction.

Fandorin and Masa pursue the criminal but fall into a trap set by the so-called "metro builders" — a well-organized and armed gang. The detectives manage to escape through the dark Parisian catacombs, whose walls are lined with millions of human skulls. Exhausted from hours of wandering, they return to the hotel.

At the hotel, the detectives meet a beautiful young woman, Cordelia Ermine. She claims that unknown extortionists kidnapped her dog, Lulu. The criminals tricked Cordelia into a room adjacent to Aspen’s apartment. Fandorin deduces that Aspen planned to cold-bloodedly poison her with carbon monoxide through a hole drilled in the wall. Cordelia’s parents had previously died in a suspicious fire. The detective directly links the assassination attempt to the fight over the Ermine family’s multi-million dollar inheritance.

A Hitch in Marburg

Emma, a gruff and feisty employee of a London detective agency hired by Cordelia to protect her, joins the investigation. She uncovers crucial information: the mysterious buyer in green glasses is Jan van Doorn, a historian from Marburg. The heroes decide to visit the historian.

In Germany, Fandorin and Masa visit Dr. van Dorn’s home. The historian admits that he works entirely for an anonymous, wealthy client with the initials "E.P. von Dorn." The client collects any artifacts associated with prominent members of the ancient von Dorn family. Van Dorn immediately telegraphs his client about the unexpected visit from his Russian relative.

Meanwhile, Cordelia’s dog is returned to the hotel. The observant Emma finds poisoned needles hidden in the dog’s clothing, saving her client from death. That night, criminals kidnap Cordelia and Fandorin, having first drugged the detective.

Masa and Emma pursue the kidnappers near a river dam. The Japanese man kills the knife thrower with a well-aimed stone throw and defeats Aspen in hand-to-hand combat. Before dying, the defeated Aspen bites Masa’s throat and confesses that the name of the true mastermind inspires a mystical terror. In the chaos of the fight, Emma vanishes without a trace, leaving behind only a dropped fan.

The undergrounds of Berlin and Karlsbad

Left alone, Masa returns to Van Dorn’s house and extracts the parameters of the anonymous client’s secret telegraph line. The Japanese man travels to Berlin, where he turns to the head of the criminal police, Gustav Specht, for help. Specht delivers Fandorin’s encrypted message: a meeting is scheduled at the Potsdamer Platz U-Bahn station, which is under construction.

In an underground bunker in Berlin, Masa finds only a mannequin dressed as Emma and is ambushed by Colonel Hentesh. This crippled veteran possesses monstrous physical strength and sadistic tendencies. The Japanese smashes a lamp, plunging the room into darkness, and fatally wounds the colonel with a well-aimed revolver shot. The dying Hentesh reveals the location of the powerful organization’s main bases.

Masa infiltrates the Gnome Company headquarters in Carlsbad. He detonates a powerful bomb on the top floor and descends into the underground "Labyrinth." This dark place is controlled by the blind genius John F. Smith, nicknamed the Minotaur. Smith oversees the construction of subways in various capitals around the world, preparing secret routes for an unseen power. A confrontation ensues in pitch-black rooms. The blind Minotaur trips over furniture moved by the Japanese, hits his temple, and dies in a grotesque fashion.

Castles of the Black Forest and Swabia

The enraged Masa’s next target is the luxurious Paradisschloss castle in the Black Forest. The stronghold is ruled by Susanna, who uses her Chinese name, Xuan-Nu. She runs a secret school for training female agents. Trained "houris" and "matadors" are used for sophisticated espionage and political assassinations around the world.

Masa climbs a steep cliff and climbs through a window in a round tower. There he meets Emma, whose real name is Mirina. The bitter truth is revealed: both Mirina and Cordelia are treacherous agents of Xuan-Nu. Mirina was supposed to cut the Japanese man’s rope, but at the last moment, she faltered due to a sudden mental weakness.

The Japanese man breaks a stained-glass window, enters, and in a furious fight kills the matador Efa who attacked him. Overwhelmed by fear, Susanna confesses that Fandorin is being held in the Swabian castle of Theofels. Masa leaves Mirina and Susanna alive, determinedly setting off to help his master.

The Lair of the Death God

In Swabia, Masa discovers the ruins of Theofels Castle, surrounded by a high, electrified fence and a colossal, invisible glass wall. The Japanese man deftly overcomes the obstacles and descends into a hidden bunker.

The underground complex is home to the syndicate’s true leader, Ernst-Peter von Dorn, who has adopted the name of the Chinese god of death, Yanluo. Ernst-Peter is a direct relative of Fandorin. As a child, he was kidnapped by the Hong Kong Triad. The young man underwent brutal training, survived, and eventually built a global criminal empire. The organization’s foundation is built on the ancient methods of the Assassins of Imam Hassan ibn al-Sabbah and the brutal rules of Chinese secret societies.

Yanluo gives the captive Fandorin a tour of the underground mirror museum, where the relics of prominent members of the von Dorn family are carefully preserved. He proposes that the detective join forces and secretly, from underground, control the destinies of empires. Fandorin flatly refuses an alliance with the ruthless killer.

Masa breaks through the mirrored corridors and joins Fandorin. Realizing that Yanluo possesses superhuman reflexes and would easily defeat them in hand-to-hand combat, the heroes stage a tactical retreat. They run out into the corridor, and at the last moment, Masa throws a flask of nitroglycerin, preserved from his confrontation with John Jones in Saint-Malo, into the room. A devastating explosion occurs, destroying the lord of the underground empire along with his priceless museum. Fandorin and Shibata decide to finally wipe the sinister base from the face of the earth and escape the blazing ruins in Yanluo’s newest vehicle.