The Unlucky Room Number

Death doesn’t look for open doors… In a furnished rooming house in the Moscow Region town of Dmitrov, commercial traveler Grigory Stasyko is murdered. Death came from a blow to the temple with a brass knuckle—moreover, the room was locked from the inside, and the windows were closed. At the time of check-in, the guest had two baskets of expensive pocket watches and a sizable sum of money—later all of it disappeared. The case is assigned to judicial investigator Ivan Fedorovich Volovtsov. Under suspicion is the townsman’s wife Kats, who earlier threatened to deal with Stasyko for an insulted husband. Her brother also managed to pay off in the nearest brothel using the dead man’s baggage watches. It seems the picture of the crime is clear… But Volovtsov is plagued by doubts. And not without reason: unexpectedly, a new suspect appears in the case… An historical detective about a crime at the start of the last century. The author immerses us so vividly in that era’s atmosphere that we can literally hear the clatter of the paving stones, the noise of the city market, the ringing of bells, and the sharp whistle of constables…