Boris Akunin’s "Special Assignments:
Decorator," a summary

This book is a dark historical detective novel, written in 1999, in which the famous detective must confront a serial killer whose signature style perfectly mirrors the atrocities of Jack the Ripper. The events unfold on the eve of Easter 1889 in the ancient capital. A series of brutal attacks on women shakes the patriarchal city, threatening to derail the royal visit.

This work is part of the popular literary cycle "The Adventures of Erast Fandorin," being the sixth book in the series (published in the second part of the fifth collection, "Special Assignments"). Other famous novels featuring this detective include "Azazel," "The Turkish Gambit," "Leviathan," and "The Death of Achilles."

The beginning of the investigation and a secret meeting

Special Assignments Officer Erast Fandorin and his young assistant, Anisy Tyulpanov, are examining the crime scene. The disemboweled body of prostitute Stepanida Andreichkina has been found in a dilapidated woodshed. Forensic expert Yegor Zakharov is conducting a preliminary examination, sorting and carefully collecting the extracted entrails. Fandorin notices an oval bloodstain on the victim’s pale face. The detective recognizes a lip print. This is precisely the gruesome mark left on his victims by the London serial killer who terrorized Europe the previous year.

Soon, Governor-General Prince Vladimir Dolgoruky convenes a secret meeting. Local authorities are extremely concerned about possible publicity. The mayor is preparing for the Emperor’s ceremonial arrival, timed to coincide with the Easter festivities. Erast Petrovich proposes immediately canceling the imperial visit. Chief of Police Yurovsky and Prosecutor Kozlyatnikov are hostile to the idea. Investigator for major cases Leonty Izhitsyn openly scoffs at the idea of an English connection. However, a horrifying detail comes to light. In recent months, Moscow police officers have discovered similar corpses of marginalized women. Police officials attributed these unpleasant deaths to drunken brawls and the abuses of local pimps.

Exhumation of bodies and search for suspects

To confirm their hypothesis, detectives conduct an exhumation — removing remains from recent burials. Tyulpanov goes to the Bozhedomskoye Cemetery. Fandorin’s assistant speaks with the talkative watchman Pakhomenko, who tells him about the unregistered burials of vagrants. Anisy orders workers to dig up the unmarked mass graves. Additional victims with similar surgical injuries are discovered. The timing of the first such murders coincides precisely with the disappearance of the London Ripper. The British monster has indeed moved to Russia.

Erast Petrovich uses deductive reasoning. The killer is a master of surgical instruments and has an excellent knowledge of anatomy. The detective narrows his search to individuals who arrived from England last fall and who have a clear medical background. Three people remain on the list. Former medical student Ivan Stenich serves as a nurse in a psychiatric hospital. Midwife Elizaveta Nesvitskaya hid in Scotland after being arrested on political charges. Millionaire Kuzma Burylin also dropped out of medical school.

Fandorin himself unexpectedly receives a parcel containing a severed woman’s ear. The detective immediately finds Burylin at a wild party of former medical students, attended by Dr. Zakharov. The brazen millionaire admits to a bad joke. Burylin cut off the ear of a corpse in the morgue, wanting to tease the police and boast to his comrades. The rich man is placed under administrative arrest.

Anisiy interrogates Stenich and Nesvitskaya in detail. Stenich admits to having previously been part of a scandalous "kindergarten circle" of Moscow students. Nesvitskaya, who has served time in solitary confinement, demonstrates a tough character, immense physical strength, and a disdain for law enforcement. Both lines of inquiry seem quite promising.

Investigative experiment and new victims

Meanwhile, investigator Izhitsyn puts forward his own theory. Leonty Andreevich believes that only an uneducated butcher could commit such atrocities. Izhitsyn orders the arrest of local Tatar and Jewish butchers. To quickly convict the culprit, the ambitious prosecutor organizes a brutal psychological investigative experiment.

All three suspected intellectuals are brought to the morgue. Izhitsyn lines up the bodies of the victims and suddenly rips the tarpaulin off the mutilated corpses. The effect is zero. Nesvitskaya loudly curses the investigator. Burylin deafeningly bursts an inflated paper bag, laughing at the police. Stenich collapses in hysterics and accuses Zakharov of outright cynicism.

The enraged criminal strikes again. Near a railroad crossing, track workers find the body of a girl, her face carefully skinned. The following night, the villain breaks into Izhitsyn’s apartment. The maniac silently murders the maid who answered the bell, and then slits the investigator’s throat. The killer leaves his usual bloody kiss on the victim’s forehead.

The solution and the death of the assistant

In the morning, Count Tolstoy, Minister of the Interior, arrives from St. Petersburg. He threatens immediate resignations, demanding that the culprit be found by Sunday. Fandorin takes personal control of the investigation, promising swift results.

Tyulpanov analyzes the list of people present at the investigative experiment. Fandorin’s assistant mistakenly concludes that the expert Zakharov is the maniac. The young man takes a revolver and heads to the Bozhedomka. There, Anisy spots an unknown person fleeing the doctor’s house. Tyulpanov gives chase but is fatally wounded twice. Bleeding profusely, the young man manages to write a shorthand report for his superior. Soon, the criminal attacks Anisy’s own apartment. The villain brutally murders the young man’s ailing sister, Sonya, and the kindly maid, Palasha.

Erast Petrovich is grieving the loss of loved ones. The detective carefully examines Zakharov’s apartment and finds hidden fragments of a note. The expert intended to turn his old friend over to the authorities, but was too late. Disguised as a pimp, Fandorin finds a prostitute who survived a random attack by a maniac. The woman describes the criminal’s quiet voice and his strange medical terms. Fandorin finally understands who is hiding behind the mask of the serial killer.

This is the compassionate cemetery caretaker, Pakhomenko. The monster’s real name is Sotsky. He had indeed previously led that same brutal student group. For beating a woman, the authorities sent Sotsky to a military prison without trial, from where he soon fled to Europe. In London, the fugitive worked as a butcher in a slaughterhouse. The suffering of prison and the constant sight of blood damaged the sanity of this educated man. The maniac imagined himself a "decorator" and declared, "I have come to bring you joy." Sotsky believed that true beauty lay solely within the internal organs, and that the filthy outer shell of marginalized women was an insult to their Creator.

Fandorin’s Justice

The decorator is planning a new crime. The killer disguises himself as a woman and enters Fandorin’s house, intending to dissect the detective’s partner, Angelina. Erast Petrovich and his faithful Japanese servant, Masa, sit in a dark hallway. Sotsky lunges at the Japanese man with a gleaming scalpel but fails. The experienced detective easily disarms the maniac.

Erast Petrovich arranges an impromptu trial for the villain. Sotsky willingly tells his story. He sincerely believes in his own divine mission and shows no remorse. Fandorin recognizes all the shortcomings of the official justice system. England will immediately demand the criminal’s extradition, expensive lawyers will easily prove the defendant’s insanity, and the monster will sooner or later escape from any hospital. The detective refuses to hand over the Decorator to the authorities, accepting full responsibility.

Erast Petrovich orders Masya to take Sotsky out into the courtyard at night. A short, dry shot rings out. The ruthless killer has been eliminated without trial or investigation.

Angelina is deeply distressed by what has happened. The religious woman sincerely begged Fandorin not to take such a grave sin upon his soul and to trust in God’s providence. Realizing that the detective had cold-bloodedly murdered a man, albeit a cruel one, she gathers her few belongings. Angelina leaves the house on Malaya Nikitskaya Street forever, seeking solace in a distant monastery. The story ends with the loud sounds of festive Easter bells.