"F.M." by Boris Akunin, summary Automatic translate

The novel was published in 2006. The narrative unfolds across two time periods, combining a modern detective plot with a skillful stylization of a lost draft of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel "Crime and Punishment." The text plays with the history of the creation of this classic work of Russian literature.

This novel is part of the "Adventures of the Master" cycle. It is the third book in the series, which tells the story of a descendant of the famous detective Erast Fandorin. The other novels in the series are "Altyn-tolobas," "Extracurricular Reading," and "The Falcon and the Swallow."

Mysterious folder

A Moscow drug addict nicknamed "Roulette" attacks an elderly man in a back alley. The robber’s loot is an old folder filled with yellowed papers. Rooulette decides to sell the pages. He contacts Nicholas Fandorin’s consulting firm. The agency’s owner immediately recognizes the classic author’s handwriting. Rooulette leaves one page for forensic analysis and disappears. Specialist Eleonora Morgunova examines the paper, ink, and fingerprint. She confirms the authenticity of the text.

A few days later, Nicholas accidentally hits a girl named Sasha with his car. A strange coincidence occurs. The girl turns out to be the daughter of Philip Morozov, the same man who suffered at the hands of a drug addict. Morozov had found an unknown manuscript in the archives. The scholar sold some of the pages and safely hid the rest. The proceeds were intended for an urgent operation for his ailing son, Ilya, in a Swiss clinic. Now the treatment is in jeopardy.

Nicholas, his assistant Valya, and Sasha head to the injured man. At the medical center, Dr. Mark Zitz-Korovin is treating Morozov for a severe traumatic brain injury. The patient has developed a rare Kusoyama syndrome. His personality has completely changed. The formerly quiet intellectual has become an aggressive and cruel cynic. The patient openly mocks visitors. After much persuasion, he gives Nicholas a coded riddle about the location of the next piece of paper.

Search for fragments

Fandorin brilliantly solves a complex puzzle. The trail leads to the renowned autograph collector Veniamin Luzgaev. He indeed holds the second piece of the manuscript. The collector agrees to return the papers, but demands a hefty ransom. A new riddle points to literary agent Marfa Sacher. She also demands a substantial share. The situation is dramatically complicated by the intervention of Arkady Sivukha. He is a wealthy deputy and the main sponsor of the clinic where Morozov is being treated. Sivukha admits that he was the one who legally purchased the manuscript from the scientist.

Soon, a chain of horrific events unfolds. Police find several bodies in a sewer outside Moscow. Nicholas recognizes the photographs of Roulet and the collector Luzgaev. Then comes news of the deaths of agent Marfa Zakher and expert Morgunova. Deputy Sivukha swears he did not order these bloody massacres. The terrible truth comes to light. The bloody trail leads to his son, Oleg.

Oleg suffers from a severe hormonal disorder. At almost thirty, he looks like a teenager. The young man possesses a brilliant mind, but is completely lacking in moral inhibitions. To please his father and eliminate any obstacles in his path, Oleg killed people in cold blood. The maniac set up a high-tech hideout, from which he stalked his victims for years.

Nicholas and Valya secretly enter Oleg’s hangar. The criminal easily incapacitates Valya thanks to his ingenious mechanisms and physical agility. Fandorin narrowly escapes. Deputy Sivukha soon arrives. Upon learning of his son’s monstrous crimes, the father is left alone with him. A brief skirmish ensues, and Oleg dies from a blow to the edge of a table. Grief-stricken, Sivukha releases Nicholas and takes a deadly poison.

The investigator’s story

Between mortal dangers, Fandorin reads the fragments of the manuscript he discovered. The action takes place in St. Petersburg. Young investigator Porfiry Petrovich is investigating a brutal attack on the pawnbroker Alena Ivanovna and her sister Lizaveta. The old woman is killed, but Lizaveta survives. She was unable to discern the attacker’s face.

Soon, the renowned lawyer Chebarov dies. The villain acts brazenly, during the day, right in the victim’s office. The third victim is brothel owner Daria Zigel. Police officer Porfiry Petrovich suspects the nervous student Rodion Raskolnikov. He published a strange newspaper article about the right of a strong personality to commit crime for a greater cause. Suspicions are heightened when the student faints at the police station while discussing the murders.

Assistant bailiff Zametov interrogates a young woman, Sofia Marmeladova. The girl tells the detective a surprising story. Raskolnikov gave his last money to pay for the funeral of her father, a alcoholic official. Meanwhile, Pyotr Luzhin, Raskolnikov’s sister’s fiancé, tries to frame Sonya for stealing a hundred rubles. The student and his determined friend Razumikhin expose the scoundrel. Razumikhin realizes the banknote was planted deliberately. Luzhin flees in disgrace and locks himself in his room.

The True Killer

At the same time, landowner Arkady Svidrigailov arrives in St. Petersburg. He is pursuing Raskolnikov’s sister, Dunya. The landowner offers a huge sum of money to break up the girl’s marriage to Luzhin. Raskolnikov refuses the deal.

Porfiry Petrovich decides to catch Raskolnikov red-handed. The detectives set up an ambush in Luzhin’s dark apartment. They expect the proud student to come to avenge his offender, axe in hand. The door flies off its hinges from a terrible blow from an oak bench. It’s not the student standing in the doorway. Svidrigailov, the landowner, bursts into the room.

Svidrigailov easily dispatches Zametov. The criminal kills the young man with a blow from a heavy cane with a bronze handle. The killer then breaks Porfiry Petrovich’s arm and disarms him. Svidrigailov is in no hurry to finish off the investigator. He calmly sits down next to him and explains in detail the motives behind his actions.

The landowner openly calls himself an evil beast. He already had ruined lives on his conscience: a serf servant, a deaf-mute girl, and his own wife. Svidrigailov decided to cleanse the world of three worthless people before leaving for America. In this way, he planned to "zero out" his past sins. The landowner chose a moneylender, a solicitor, and a procuress. He dealt with them with ease. He considered the victims merely harmful bacilli.

After listening to the horrific confession, the investigator tries to stealthily grab the dropped revolver. Svidrigailov notices this cautious movement just in time. The landowner gets ahead of his opponent and points the loaded weapon directly at Porfiry Petrovich. The detective’s life hangs by a thread.

At the most interesting point, the text suddenly breaks off. The page is crossed with harsh, angry lines. An emotional author’s note is left in the margins. The author complains of a creative impasse and decides to rewrite the book. Nicholas Fandorin understands the true value of paper. Before him lies the rejected draft, from which the canonical text of the great novel would later emerge.

After all the upheaval, Fandorin returns home. He reconciles with his wife, Altyn. He casts aside the absurd suspicions of infidelity with the young pianist. The final solution leads Nicholas to the Kulturtreger publishing house. Oleg, disguised in a Japanese costume, visits and gives the publisher the final part of the manuscript. Fandorin retains the complete manuscript. His troubled conscience finds solace in one fact: the money donated by a sponsor will help save the life of little Ilya Morozov. The Swiss clinic will successfully perform the planned operation.