The Secret of the Bloody Night

Everyone knew him. But to himself, he remained a mystery…

In 1904, Kazan is shaken by a brutal crime: two girls are murdered. Their neighbor, Elvira Shimanova, is attacked as well—her one-year-old son vanishes from her apartment; the assailant struck the woman in the face with an iron and slashed her with a knife. Elvira survives but is left blind and deaf, so she cannot tell investigators anything.

The senior judicial investigator for especially important cases, Ivan Fedorovich Volovtsov, suspects the victim’s husband—Zinoviy Shimanov: a neighbor claims to have seen him that day with a bundle under his arm. But soon it turns out that the suspect has an alibi…

The investigation grows even more tangled until the detective notices one small detail—a clue that the killer, through carelessness, left at the scene.

A historical detective story about a crime from the early 20th century. The author recreates the era so vividly that the city seems to come alive before your eyes: the clatter on the cobblestone street, the bustle of the marketplace, the sound of church bells, and the sharp whistles of the city watchmen…