The Case of the Black Dervishes

2018. Moscow. Senior investigator Orest Volin investigates a case involving the disappearance of a valuable copy of the Quran by Usman. The case is complicated by the murder of the person who stole that copy—yet the copy itself remained in the apartment the deceased man had rented in Moscow. While investigating, Volin comes to the conclusion that the thief must have stolen the original Quran, which is a Muslim sacred relic and which, precisely at these days, was brought from Tashkent to St. Petersburg.

1923. Tashkent. Another diary of the detective Zagorsky—who lived a hundred years before the events described—tells how Zagorsky, at the request of his old friend Colonel Belikov, travels to Tashkent. In those same days, a theft occurs here from a special train car coming from Ufa: the famous Muslim sacred Quran of Usman is stolen. It is assumed that, besides the authorized text, the Quran contains certain apocryphal surahs and verses given to the prophet Muhammad, but removed from the final version because they were considered dangerous for the faithful. If the Quran falls into the wrong hands, it could destroy the entire Muslim world. Zagorsky and his faithful assistant Gantszalyn take up the case.