From the Life of Wood Chips

Moscow, 1883.

In his Moscow office, Leonard von Mack—the owner of a large railway company—is poisoned.

Arsenic was put into his evening tea; the secretary who was treated by the owner also died, and the night janitor who drank the master’s tea from the cup left by a forgotten teapot died as well.

The famous St. Petersburg detective Vanyukhin is convinced that the company owner was poisoned by his older son, Sergey, in order to take his father’s place at the head of the business. Sergey, for his part, is sure that the murderer was sent by Mosolov, the owner of a competing company—so that he could divert a gigantic contract.