Retired detective Rodion Vanzarov of the St. Petersburg police was asked to return to service—because the case is so complex that only he can handle it. And on the very first day of the investigation, Vanzarov… kills the victim of the crime! Or was the victim already dead before that? The city police of Pavlovsk couldn’t answer that question, as through its streets wandered a dead-alive girl. Even the great criminologist Lebedev couldn’t solve the riddle—something important kept slipping out of view. And it went on until Vanzarov heeded a warning from a mysterious bibliographer with the surname Trupp…