The collection includes ten detective stories that took place in different periods of the life of Erast Fandorin. The book opens with the story "Sigumo" .. During the service of Fandorin in Japan, a mysterious crime occurs The former Russian consul, after a personal drama, who became a hermit, dies under very strange circumstances. His death is blamed on a mythical creature - the Death Spider, who drinks the blood of victims ... In the story of the “Table-Talk of 1882” during a social chat in the salon Fandorin is offered to unravel the crime that occurred six years ago. There were two twin sisters, Polina and Anna Karakina .. One day in their province came a certain Renard . He turned Pauline's head, but the elder Karakin, upon learning of the egregious incident, forces Renard to leave. On the appointed day, Pauline disappears, and Anna falls into unconsciousness. In the work “From the life of chips” Erast Fandorin has to investigate the triple murder the head of a large company Leonard Von Mack, his secretary Stern and cleaner Krupennikov . All the evidence indicates that the main target of the criminals was Von Mack, and the rest died by a ridiculous accident. But everything is not so simple ... And “Jade beads” will tell you under what circumstances Erast Fandorin had his legendary green beads that help the detective to gain enlightenment of the mind ...