The events of the novel take place in 1898. Lykov's friend, the Livonian Yan Titus, travels to Riga for the funeral of his elder brother Yazep. There he discovers that his brother was murdered. The police have no desire to find those responsible. Yazep Titus was a thief and a fence; if he was killed — it served him right… When Yan begins his own inquiry, he is advised to leave the city.
Hearing of this, an outraged Lykoff comes to Riga to help his friend. Together they begin searching for the killers on their own. In the course of the inquiry they stumble upon someone's spy network, and the friends also come up against numerous cutthroats from Riga's outlying districts. German dominance pervades Riga, and the Russian detectives have a hard time of it. An outbreak of gang warfare further complicates the search…