Debut Production. Volume 1

An astonishing story of how, in the distant Soviet years, a famous singer—Brezhnev’s favorite—was killed, and what investigators had to do to keep their positions.

1966. As the “stand-in” for the murderer, a black lacquered lid from a piano was chosen. Thirteen saucers were arranged on it—and on those saucers, burning candles were set. The killer carefully examined the couch where the dead man lay, removed from the side table the emptied sleeping-pill boxes. One last touch remained—just like the cherry on top… The murderer placed a photograph of a woman and a strip of paper with a short phrase printed in block letters neatly on the singer’s chest.

Half a century later, a young journalist, Pyotr Kravchenko, became fascinated by this case. The legendary Anastasia Kamenskaya, a retired operative, helps him establish contact with people connected to those long-ago events—and capable of uncovering the dark secrets of the past…