Script application for a series in the historical noir thriller genre, 8 episodes.

LOGLINE
Summer 1890. Vladivostok is paralyzed by fear - a headless horseman appears in the fog, killing people associated with mysterious gold. The local police are powerless, and an official on special assignments, Andrei Suvorov, arrives from Khabarovsk, the administrative capital of the Far East. His accidental assistant is Anton Chekhov, a doctor and writer stuck in cholera quarantine. Together, they uncover the long-ago murder of a state inspector on Askold Island. The prime suspect is the brilliant Colonel Tugarikov, Suvorov's senior comrade and former mentor, a man he always admired.

CHARACTERS
Andrei Suvorov (40) is a special assignment official for the Amur Governor-General, based in Khabarovsk. He was sent to Vladivostok because the local police were either unable to cope or (worse) were complicit in a cover-up. Suvorov is a career officer in the past, having served in the Caucasus under Tugarikov. They share a past and friendship. After the Caucasus, he was transferred to the Far East, where he worked for a long time in the apparatus, but retained his investigative acumen. A man of duty, who has experienced personal drama (PTSD after the Caucasus), but believes in the law. But in Vladivostok, the law is lost in fog.
Anton Chekhov (30 years old) - a doctor and writer, on his way to Sakhalin, got stuck in Vladivostok due to the cholera quarantine. While waiting for a ship, he studies the city's customs, and when the murders begin, he turns out to be the only one who can professionally examine the bodies and notice medical details. He sees the world through pince-nez and irony. His notes record everything that will later become the basis for future stories.
Pyotr Tugarikov (45 years old) - a colonel, an influential official in Vladivostok, the right hand of the governor-general. In the past, he was Suvorov's mentor in the Caucasus, his idol. 15 years ago, as a lieutenant on Askold Island, he killed an inspector investigating the theft of gold. Since then, he has lived in fear of exposure. When fragments of a gold shipment confiscated by the inspector surface in the city, he realizes that one of the witnesses to the tragedy is alive, and begins a brutal purge, disguising the murders under the legend of the Horseman.
Evgeny Stroyev (60 years old) is a quiet archivist official, a former subordinate of Tugarikov in Askold. He witnessed the murder of the inspector and, taking advantage of the confusion, stole a box containing the inspector's "cursed" gold. All these years, he has been slowly selling off gold crumbs to treat his seriously ill wife. His wife has died, he himself is dying, and his daughter Vera sits on the remains of the treasure, unaware of the danger.
Vera Stroyeva (22 years old) is Stroyev's daughter. She finds fragments of gold and tries to sell them to leave the city. She doesn't know that she's lighting a signal fire for the killer.
Merchant Solodovnikov is a wealthy gold miner, a false trail. He bought stolen gold from Askold in the 1970s, now he behaves suspiciously, but he's not a killer, but a cowardly businessman who, in the finale, will testify against Tugarikov to save himself.


PLOT
SETTING: THE FIRST MURDERS AND THE ARRIVAL OF SUVOROV

The first murder occurs before Suvorov's arrival. The decapitated body of a small-time fence is found at the port, and a strange yellow shard, crumbling in his fingers, is found in his pocket. The police are at a loss, and rumors of a headless horseman are circulating.

Chekhov is in cholera quarantine and has nothing better to do. They turn to him, as a doctor, for advice. He examines the body and notices an unusual garlicky smell from a splinter. Soon a second murder occurs: a pharmacist is beheaded. Chekhov records the details, but is not officially involved in the investigation.

Suvorov arrives in Vladivostok from Khabarovsk with a mandate to restore order. The local police greet him with caution: they have something to hide, and Suvorov quickly senses this. He meets Chekhov, who turns out to be the only one who can clearly explain the medical details. Thus, their duet is formed.


SUVOROV AND CHEKHOV

Suvorov moves up the chain of command, interviewing officials, military personnel, merchants, and the police. His task is to find the killer and restore order. He sees in the legend of the horseman only a criminal instrument.

Chekhov's line is the horizontal of the city. He moves along the bottom: pharmacists, sailors, prostitutes, Chinese doctors, port taverns. He observes how a myth is born and lives, and records medical evidence that the police do not look for. He sees the end of an empire and the birth of modernity.

The points of connection are murders, shards of gold, witnesses. Suvorov collects facts, Chekhov interprets them through science and human nature. Together they piece together the puzzle.

DETECTIVE ENGINE "FRAGILE GOLD"

In 1875, Inspector von Shtil came to Askold Island to investigate thefts in which the entire local administration, including Tugarikov, was implicated. He confiscates illegal gold, but realizes he won't leave the island alive. Wanting to outwit the killers, he locks himself in the Askold mine laboratory, melts the gold into bars, and before dying, adds an arsenic alloy to the melt. The gold becomes brittle. When struck, it shatters into sharp shards, and when heated, it emits a characteristic smell of garlic. This is the signature of the dead Inspector - no shop or fence will buy it without questions. It can only be cleared in the capital. Tugarikov kills von Shtil - beheads him. And hides the marked gold until better times. However, his subordinate, Yevgeny Stroyev, who accidentally discovered the cache location, hides the gold.
For the next fifteen years, he lives like a stingy knight, not risking selling the bars whole. He crushed them with a hammer and sold the "crumbs" for half price to dealers, jewelers, and pharmacists. In the process, he himself was poisoned with arsenic, which slowly killed him.

Any fragment of this gold is evidence. Chekhov, having smelled it or carried out a simple test, understands: this is not ordinary gold, it is connected with murder.

THREE LAYERS OF THE LEGEND OF THE HORSEMAN

1. The Chinese "spirit with a lantern". The first murders were committed with Chinese cleavers, the victims' blood contained opium. The version leads to Millionka, to the Honghuzi, and turns out to be a false trail planted by the killer. Tugarikov and his loyal Cossacks follow the trail of gold and behead the first victim to hide the bullet hole. They chop the dao with a Chinese cleaver to blame it on the Honghuzi.
2. The Irish Dullahan - an Irish sailor's legend about a messenger of death who is afraid of gold resurfaces. It explains why the killer takes gold from bodies and suggests an image to Tugarikov. He begins to use this image consciously, causing chaos.
3. The Cossack legend - old Cossacks recall that similar rumors circulated in Askold after the murder of the inspector. Chekhov determines from the cross-sections of the vertebrae that the blow was inflicted by a Cossack saber, not a cleaver. This leads to Tugarikov.


TUGARikov's Psychology

Tugarikov believed that the gold had disappeared forever. When he sees a shard with a garlicky smell, he realizes his stolen gold has surfaced, meaning a witness to the inspector's murder may also be alive. He can't ignore this gold—the murder of a government official won't be forgiven, unlike theft. He begins a purge with a handful of loyal Cossacks, his fellow soldiers from Askold, bound to him by long-standing ties of corruption.
He believes he is creating the Horseman legend to mislead the investigation, paralyze the remaining witnesses with terror, and hide the bullet holes (he fires an officer's revolver).
And the cutting off of heads is both a way to hide the bullet, and an imitation of the handwriting of the Honghuzi, and a ritual repetition of the first sin.
But in fact, a new myth is beginning to be created through it.

FINALE

Suvorov contacts Tugarikov. He confesses, but explains the murder of the inspector as an "inevitable evil." Suvorov arrests his mentor. Tugarikov asks for time to say goodbye to his family and disappears. A chase occurs on the Tokarev Spit. A horseman appears in the fog. Suvorov shoots. The horse comes ashore without a rider. There is no body—a strong current carried it away. The tracks lead out to sea and end.

In the epilogue, Chekhov sails to Sakhalin. In his notebook, there is a sketch of a plot about a man who lost his head over gold. The last shot shows an empty road, fog, the clatter of hooves. The Headless Horseman stands with a gold bar in his hand.

VLADIVOSTOK AS A SETTING

Vladivostok in 1890 is a young port on the edge of an empire, where different worlds collide. Here are Russian officials and Cossacks, the Chinese quarters of Millionka, Japanese traders, Korean fishermen, and sailors from all over the world. This is a frontier where the law is still trying to take root. Here rumors spread faster than orders, and power does not always belong to the empire. Misty hills, a wooden port city, opium dens, gold from Askold Island.
In this space, the myth of the headless horseman is born. At its core is the Irish dullahan, a messenger of death who fears gold. But in a multilingual city, the legend takes on a life of its own, merging with Chinese legends and Cossack tales from Askold. The killer created the myth as a cover—and didn't notice how he himself had become one.

PROJECT BASIS

· Real historical events. Chekhov in Vladivostok (October 1890), Askold Island with its gold rush, the Honghuzi, the Umaltinsky robbery.
· Double helix of narrative. The lines of action (Suvorov) and observation (Chekhov) intertwine, creating volume.
· Three mythological layers that work for the plot, not just the atmosphere.
· A detective engine with "fragile gold" - a chemical clue that connects all the murders.
· Chekhov within the framework of facts. doctor, writer, witness - without fiction about his detective exploits.

CHARACTERS
Andrey T. is a fourteen-year-old Moscow schoolboy who fell ill with follicular tonsillitis on New Year's Eve.
Genka-Apricot is Andrey's best friend. A boy who got into trouble in the "underworld".
Spiha (Spiridon / Spidlec) is an old second-class radio receiver of the "Spidola" brand, which stood on a stool next to Andrei's bed. It becomes his faithful companion, advisor, source of courage and bravery, broadcasting the right melodies and supporting the hero along the way.
Fantastic inhabitants of the underworld are various allegorical creatures and forces personifying cowardice, doubt and "hostility" with which Andrei has to fight on the way to saving a friend.

PLOT
Fourteen-year-old Andrei T. falls ill with a sore throat a few days before the New Year and on the eve of the holiday is forced to spend time observing "bed rest" and following prescribed medical procedures. The family planned to celebrate the holiday outside the city, at a certain Gribanovskaya guardhouse. So, mom, dad, and older brother go there, leaving Andrei T. with his grandfather. Trying to figure out how to celebrate the approaching holiday in the most pleasant way, Andrei calls his friend Genka, nicknamed Apricot, and he offers to come visit at 9:00 PM.

Around nine, Andrei hears Genka's call for help on the radio. Andrei must enter the manhole in his own kitchen and manage to save his friend before midnight.

He prepares to leave, putting on warm clothes and grabbing a tripod, when he suddenly notices that the tripod and radio have appeared in his hands without his knowledge.

Andrei sets off on his journey, taking with him the aforementioned Spidola radio receiver as a companion. During the adventure, the receiver helps the hero make decisions by transmitting melodies appropriate to the moment.

In the kitchen, he discovers a rectangular, unpleasant-looking hatch, evoking thoughts of rusty hooks, rats, and slimy steps. Andrey goes through the hatch.

He is disappointed that there are no dangers in the hallway, but there are strange signs.

Walking down the long hallway, the boy sees two doors with signs reading "for the brave" and "not so brave." He opens the second door.

Behind the door was his apartment. A familiar grandfather was snoring in a familiar armchair, a familiar cat was squinting on a familiar TV, and a familiar blanket was hanging from a familiar bed. Andrey T. decisively closed the door. Modesty is modesty, of course, but not at such a price!

Behind the "for the brave" door begins a tunnel leading to a dry swimming pool. It's impossible to go around the pool; you have to walk along its bottom. Andrei T. descends, and halfway down, he's knocked down by streams of water, forcing him to fight for his life and avoid drowning. Finally emerging at the other end, the boy finds a kindly man helping him dry his clothes and offering him hot tea and a kalach.

This man, wearing overalls with straps over his bare, tanned body, was of considerable height and in some ways strongly resembled his neighbor on the landing, nicknamed Kon Kobylych. His voice was low and pleasant, and he looked at Andrei T. with affectionate and welcoming eyes.

Andrei T. silently calls the stranger — Kon Kobylych.

Over tea, Kon Kobylych dissuades the boy from continuing on his way, convincing him that there will be many dangers ahead in which he can be seriously injured, and reminding him of his worried parents. Andrei nevertheless goes on and finds himself in a hall, visibility in which is greatly impaired by an incomprehensible haze. The only landmark is a black path on the floor, which at a certain point forks and leads again to the signs "for the smart" and "not so smart". Behind the first door is a road ending in a door, behind which is the same room with his grandfather. The boy chooses the second.

The road behind the second door leads to a staircase consisting of brackets walled into the wall. The first six brackets are visible, the rest are hidden in the fog. Andrey climbs the brackets for a long time, his legs shaking from fatigue, his palms skinned, and finally finds himself in a room.

There is a powerful computer there, introducing itself as the "omnipotent electronic thinker, solver, and guesser, abbreviated as VEDRO." To exit, Andrey T. must answer three questions from VEDRO, and then ask his own questions, one of which the computer must not find an answer to. The same Kon Kobylych, but somewhat withered and reduced in size, serves VEDRO and guards the exit.

The first question: a snail on a pole - Andrey answers correctly. The second question: Pechorin's name. Andrey points out an error in the wording, and the question is cancelled. The third question: the operating principle of engineer Garin's hyperboloid. Andrey answers in detail and correctly.

Andrey tries to ask a question that VEDRO cannot answer. The boy remembers that omnipotence must have an exception. He asks: can VEDRO come up with a question it can't answer itself? VEDRO begins to struggle with the logical contradiction in the question. VEDRO's system fails, and the gates open. Having defeated VEDRO, Andrei T. finds himself in a sunlit square. He sees numerous pavilions with signs reading "philumenicists," "philocartists," "numismatists," "bonists," and other names for communities of people united by a common interest, including alcoholics and drug addicts. Hoping to receive help and advice in "his" pavilion, the boy enters the "philatelists" pavilion, entering a world of albums and album books. Looking through the albums, the boy loses track of time, and an invisible assistant keeps placing new albums under his feet. When Andrei T. comes to his senses, he again finds Kobylych the Horse, who offers him a rare "Pink Guiana" stamp as a gift. But then the radio plays the song "The Drummer," and Andrei realizes that the stamps are just pieces of colored paper. Kobylych the Horse shoots the radio with a laser pistol, burning a huge hole. Andrei continues walking. Along the way, he sees many doors. Peeking behind the door marked "the easiest exit," Andrei again sees the room with the grandfather and the cat.

His friend is finally found, and Andrei T. finds him surrounded by terrifying, grotesque figures (the Amazing Man, the Two-Humped Old Woman, the Very First Pancake, the Variety Hack, the Jawed Slob, the Unfinished Fascist, the Red-Eyed Youth, and others), waiting until midnight to pounce on Genka. Finding a sword under his feet, the hero engages in battle with all these dark characters.

Andrei wakes up, it's just after 10 a.m. Genka-Apricot arrives, making excuses, giving long-winded and incoherent explanations. Andrei T. gives him all his stamps, and the radio plays the song "Drummer," showing "a terrible through-and-through wound, a round hole with melted edges," which appeared after his last encounter with Kon Kobylych, when the latter fired a blaster at him.

Young Adult
Melodrama
Young Adult Fiction
Romance
First Love
Children's Friendship
Bullying
Toxic Relationships
Domestic Violence
Internal Trauma

"First Feelings" is a super-popular series of novels by Niki Sue about modern youth love in the young adult genre. The series includes: the dilogy "Ashes" and "Snow Sparks", as well as the spin-off "Love Between Us".

The total print circulation of the series is over 150,000 copies, and the total number of reads of the electronic version is around 5 million!

References:
"Your Heart Will Be Broken" directed by M. Weinberg, 2026
"Tommen's Boys" 2027 (based on the novel by Chloe Walsh "Catch the 13th").

CHARACTERS
Margarita Romanova (17) is a quiet and unsociable girl. Because of her strict father, she has to wear long skirts, wide blouses and always put her hair in braids. Her father does not allow her to go for walks after school, communicate with boys and controls his daughter's every step. Rita has been afraid of her father since childhood, so she tries not to contradict him. Because of her timid nature, she cannot get along with others, who consider her different from everyone else and call her strange because of her clothes.
Vitya Shestakov (17) is the captain of the basketball team, the star of the school and the life of the party. He is sure that he has best friends who will never betray him and will support him in difficult times. The only thing Vitya dreams of is for his parents to come to his basketball games and cheer for him. But Vitya's father is constantly absent at work, and his mother abandoned the family when Vitya was a child.
Alena Smirnova (17)- Vitya's girlfriend.
Akim Geduev (18)- Vitya and Rita's new classmate. Having joined the "Crows" basketball team, where Vitya plays, he tries in every possible way to take the captain's place - to discord his friends. Akim comes from a family of doctors; he is smart, calculating, and doesn't believe in friendship. He believes that any end justifies the means and is ready to walk over others if circumstances require it.
Natasha Krasnova (18) is Rita's neighbor and only friend. A rebel, she constantly argues with her parents and dreams of leaving home. She changes boyfriends so often that various rumors circulate about her. Rita's parents are against their daughter's interactions with such a girl, but Rita is too attached to the only person with whom she can share her experiences.
Kirill Ivanov (17) is Vitya's best friend.
Matvey (2) is Rita's younger brother.

"ASHES"
PLOT
Margarita Romanova is a quiet and unsociable girl. Because of her strict father, she has to wear long skirts, wide sweaters, and always pull her hair back into braids. Her father doesn't allow her to go out after school or socialize with boys, and he controls her every move. Rita has been afraid of her father since childhood, so she tries not to confront him. Because of her timid nature, Rita can't fit in with others; they consider her different and call her strange because of her clothes.

This also happens at the new school where Rita is sent when her old school is closed for renovations. Here Rita meets her childhood friend – a boy with whom she still secretly loves.

Vitya Shestakov is the captain of the basketball team, the star of the school, and the life of the party. He is sure that he has best friends who will never betray him and will support him in difficult times. The only thing Vitya dreams of is for his parents to come to his basketball games and cheer for him. But Vitya's father is constantly absent from work, and his mother abandoned their family when Vitya was a child.

With Rita's arrival, Vitya remembers his childhood and his friendship with Rita. He begins to wonder why Rita broke off their friendship with Vitya five years ago. He realizes that he still resents his former best friend. Vitya's entire behavior shows how unhappy he is to see Rita, despite the fact that his homeroom teacher seats them at the same desk.

Vitya makes silly jokes about Rita during class, sometimes intentionally taunting her and disrupting her studies.

During gym class, Vitya sees Rita in regular clothes for the first time and wonders why she's started dressing strangely. He catches himself thinking that he doesn't like the way his male friends react to Rita. They think she's sweet, which upsets Vitya.

Vitya's girlfriend, Alena Smirnova, also notices the changes in her boyfriend. She complains about this to her friends and her new classmate, Akim Geduev.

Akim joins the "Crows" basketball team, where Vitya plays, and he wants to take the captain's place in order to drive a wedge between his friends. Akim comes from a family of doctors; he is intelligent, calculating, and distrustful of friendship. He believes that any end justifies the means and is ready to walk over heads if circumstances require it. Akim is an excellent basketball player and skillfully insinuates himself into Vitya's group of friends.

Meanwhile, Vitya begins to grow close to Rita again. When his former childhood friend refuses to run away with all her classmates from their last English lesson, he takes the blame so that Rita won't be shunned. He stands up for her in the school locker room when the girls make fun of Rita's appearance. During physical education class, when classmates are assigned to teams, no one wants to take the quiet, inept Rita, so Vitya takes her to his team.

Before the New Year, Rita gets sick and doesn't come to school. Then Vitya goes to see her himself. They talk, and Vitya admits that he has been attracted to her since childhood, and is ready to leave his girlfriend for Rita and announce to everyone after the competition that he is now dating someone else.

Rita tells everything to her only friend and neighbor, Natasha Krasnova. Natasha is a rebel, constantly arguing with her parents and dreaming of leaving her parental home as soon as possible. She changes boyfriends so often that various rumors are circulating about her. Rita's parents are against their daughter communicating with such a girl, but Rita is too attached to the only person with whom she can share her experiences.

Natasha advises Rita not to miss her chance - to agree to be with Vitya, despite the fact that Rita's father will never allow his daughter to be with the son of his enemy.

Even in their youth, Vitya and Rita's parents tried to start a business together, but it was unsuccessful. Vitya's father sells the idea to competitors in order to save the company. Why do once-best friends quarrel forever and forbid their children to be friends?

Two weeks later, returning from another basketball competition, Vitya tells Rita about his breakup with his girlfriend. He gives her his phone number and promises to write every day. A few days later, Vitya invites Rita on their first date, which they spend at the cinema. Afterwards, he walks Rita home. On the way, he admits that their breakup in childhood affected him greatly, and he still does not understand why it happened. Rita is afraid to admit to Vitya that her father not only forbade them to communicate, but also promised to teach little Vitya a lesson if his daughter disobeyed him.

New Year's Eve arrives. Rita promises to spend it with Vitya on December 31st, because her father will be working the night shift and will not know anything. Vitya waits for her all day, but she does not come. On New Year's Eve, Rita is unable to leave the house. Her father's unexpected return ruins all her plans. He takes her phone. Rita asks her mother to let her call Vita, but she flatly refuses. In tears, Rita runs away from home to her friend Natasha. She calms Rita down and gives her the phone.

When she logs into her messenger, Rita sees a new photo of Vitya with Alena, accidentally taken by Vitya's friends. Rita is upset and goes home. Her father forbids her from entering the apartment and locks the door. Rita has to spend the night on the landing because she ultimately has no one to go to. Alena goes out with her boyfriend, and Rita has no other friends.

In the morning, she is finally allowed home, but now she is forbidden to go out anywhere until the end of the holidays. Returning to school, Rita notices that Vitya no longer communicates with her and is generally gloomy. A whole month passes like this until she attends his match. Vitya notices this and wants to talk to

her. He doesn't understand why Rita didn't come to meet him, but was spending time quietly at home. But someone is always bothering him.

One day, Natasha's boyfriend gets into trouble, and Rita and her friend go to his aid. There, they are attacked by hooligans. Luckily, they are saved by Vitya, whom Natasha calls in advance and tells everything. A fight breaks out, as a result of which Vitya gets injured on the eve of an important game. Now he won't be able to participate in the match, but he doesn't know how to tell his teammates and best friend Kirill Ivanov, who also plays there.

After the hospital, Rita takes Vitya home and cooks him dinner. They tell each other everything about their feelings and kiss.

The next day, Vitya calls the coach; he is worried about the upcoming game. Vitya's father brings him to a competition, and Vitya sees his team lose shamefully. His best friend, Kirill, reproaches Vitya for their loss.

When Vitya's injury heals, he tries to return to sports. But the team demonstratively rejects him, and his best friend and Akim plot against him. They hate Rita and believe that she ruined their friendship.

Time passes. Vitya decides to quit basketball because the team still reproaches him for abandoning his friends for a girl. Things are getting better with Rita. They plan a future together.

Now Vitya has love, but no best friends. He comes to the conclusion that it is almost impossible to find a true friend.

Rita also quarrels with Natasha because of the incident with the hooligans. Rita says that Vitya could have gotten hurt and that she should be more selective in her boyfriends, to which Natasha tells her that a girl like Rita doesn't need friendship.

Graduation night arrives. Rita and Vitya arrive as a couple. Vitya's mother approaches and congratulates him, but Rita's parents are not going to the graduation. When Vitya returns, Rita is not there.

While he is absent, Akim sits down next to Rita and says that he has information regarding her brother. Rita's younger brother Matvey has a heart condition and urgently needs surgery. Rita's parents have been on the waiting list for a quota since birth, but at the last minute they were denied.

Akim says that it was at his instigation that they were not giving the go-ahead for the operation; Akim's mother is the head doctor of the hospital. And if Rita wants the best for her brother, she should leave Vitya. Rita asks why Akim is so hostile towards her. The guy says he's been in love with Alena Smirnova, Vitya's ex-girlfriend, for a long time. After the breakup, she's been suffering greatly, refusing to eat and crying often. Akim promises her that he'll bring Vitya back to Alena, his friends, and his basketball team. But to do that, he needs to eliminate Rita.

Rita has to agree to Akim's terms because of her brother and drive with him around the restaurant area. While they're driving (Akim, Kirill, and Vova), Kirill films Rita trying to smile, feigning joy.

Meanwhile, Vitya continues to look for Rita, but can't find her. Alena catches him in the hallway, confesses her feelings, and is rejected again. Then Alena shows Vitya a video of Rita supposedly having a good time with his former friends.

Vitya doesn't believe it until he sees it with his own eyes. Rita gets out of his friends' car and allows her ex-friend Kirill to put his arm around her waist. When Vitya asks what's wrong, Rita looks away and says that she never loved Vitya and doesn't need him.

A fight breaks out between Vitya and Kirill. In the confusion, Rita gets into a taxi and leaves, viewed as a traitor by those around her.
End of part one.

"SNOW SPARKLS"
PLOT

Two and a half years have passed.
Anton Levakov (Vitya's best friend) nervously walks down the hospital corridor, looking at the posters. Vitya comforts his friend – Anton's girlfriend, Yulia Snegireva, is bruised after falling on a slippery road.

While they wait, Rita (Margarita Romanova) appears in the hallway, holding a little boy by the hand. Two and a half years have passed, but the sight of his ex-girlfriend again overwhelms Vitya with pain. Rita smiles at the boy with incredible tenderness. Vitya cannot look away.

When Rita leaves, Vitya asks the doctor who the child is. It turns out it is her younger brother, Matvey, who has heart problems. Vitya is shocked: in their entire relationship, Rita never mentioned his brother.

Vitya cannot calm down; his meeting with Rita keeps playing in his head. On the way, Anton and Yulia remember the second city hospital, where Matvey used to be a patient. The head doctor there is Vera Grigoryevna Gedueva. This name immediately catches Vitya's attention. He remembers his former friend, Akim Geduev. All day, thoughts of the Geduev family haunt him. Even on a date with his girlfriend, Marina Leonova, he remains distracted and continues searching for information online.

The next day, Vitya and Anton go to see investigator Andrei Smolensky. He asks him to check on Vera Gedueva. It turns out she has a son about Vitya's age, and her husband works in the administration. Anton asks about Rita's old complaint against Raevsky, which she later withdrew. Vitya is angry and wants to leave—he doesn't want to dredge up the past. But Anton has already asked Andrei to find out the details. At the end of the conversation, Anton tells Vita that Rita is now working as a waitress at the Da Vinci restaurant.

The next day, Vitya and Anton go there and unexpectedly come face to face with Rita. Tension flares between them. Vitya behaves rudely and sarcastically. Rita remains calm and professional, although she is clearly also agitated. At the café, Anton tells Vitya important news: Rita withdrew her statement from the police with her father, but then came alone and said that she wrote it under duress. Moreover, she stated that she had no connection with the guys.

Vitya is confused. Everything he believed in for three years is starting to crumble.

At the same time, Marina Leonova is sitting at a table in the VIP booth with her friends Zoya and Lera. This is her restaurant, and she often spends time there with her friends. Marina notices Vitya. She calls him discreetly, but he suddenly hangs up. Her friends see this and start teasing her. Marina tries to save face, but jealousy is boiling inside.

Vitya and Anton quickly leave, leaving the money on the table. Marina scolds Rita for not following up on the payment, although she is really angry with Vitya.

That evening, Vitya doesn't come to Marina's and barely responds to her messages. Marina doesn't sleep all night, worried, but trying to control herself. The next day, she calls him again, trying to be unobtrusive. Vitya answers curtly and says he's busy.

That evening, after the restaurant closes, Marina and her friends go outside and see Vitya standing by his car, clearly waiting for someone.

Vitya returns home from the restaurant and can't sleep all night. He reflects on the past and realizes that he may have messed everything up. In the morning, he is late for his English class, but gets out of it with the help of charm and a box of chocolates. After class, Anton pressures him again, reminding him about the waitress's belongings and the fortune teller's old prediction. Vitya decides it's time to talk to Margo. That evening, he arrives at Da Vinci and waits for her in the cold for a long time.

When Rita finally comes out, Vitya calls out to her and says he knows what happened at the graduation.

Rita is shocked by the sudden encounter. She tries to leave, but Vitya grabs her by the arm and literally pushes her into his car. He demands the truth. Rita is tired, angry, and confused—after two and a half years of silence, he suddenly decided to sort things out. She tries to resist, but Vitya is adamant.

Rita begins to tell him. She remembers the graduation ceremony. Akim Geduev approaches her and blackmails her: if she doesn't fake betrayal and break up with Vitya, her younger brother Matvey won't get a vital heart operation (his mother is the head doctor, and Akim found out about it).

Akim isn't acting alone—Kirill Ivanov is with him, who wants Vitya to get back on the basketball team. Rita agrees to the performance to save her brother. She plans to tell Vitya the truth right after the operation, but things don't go according to plan.

Two weeks after graduation, Rita comes to Vitya's house to finally explain everything. But she sees his stories and then with her own eyes—how he kisses and hugs another girl. Her heart is broken.

At home, she has a difficult conversation with her father, who doesn't believe her and beats her. That same evening, Rita leaves home forever.

After telling Vitya all this, Rita leaves his car and drives home. В квартире, которую она снимает с лучшим другом неожиданно застаёт Диму Люкова (24, ее лучший друг) . Они обнимаются, как брат и сестра. Дима приготовил ужин, привёз ей марципаны из поездки. Между ними тёплая, семейная атмосфера. Рита не решается рассказать ему о встрече с Витей.

На следующий день Рита пытается сдать зачёт по английскому, но преподавательница явно вымогает взятку. Рита отказывается платить и уходит в ярости. Она приезжает на работу в «ДаВинчи» и с удивлением видит Витю, который сидит на ступеньках и явно ждёт её. Он заходит в ресторан и специально требует, чтобы именно Рита его обслуживала. Девушка понимает — он не собирается так просто уходить из её жизни.

Рита пытается держаться профессионально, но его взгляды и присутствие сильно её смущают. Появляется неприятный клиент Жданов (45), от которого Рита недавно получила пощёчину за домогательства. Витя замечает её напряжение и заявляет администратору, что будет обслуживаться исключительно Маргаритой, иначе напишет негативный отзыв и передаст привет Жданову от семьи Шестаковых. Администратор соглашается.

После смены Витя ждёт Риту. Когда она выходит, он догоняет её, предлагает подвезти. Между ними происходит напряжённый момент: Витя ловит Риту, когда она чуть не падает, и на секунду они оказываются очень близко. Рита вырывается и уезжает на автобусе, оставляя Витю одного.

Витя продолжает приходить в ресторан каждый день и требует, чтобы его обслуживала именно Рита. Марина замечает это, злится и запрещает Рите подходить к нему, переводя её на VIP-столики. Когда Витя узнаёт об этом, он устраивает небольшой скандал. Рита утаскивает его в сторону и пытается объяснить.

Витя внезапно признаётся, что скучал и до сих пор хочет её поцеловать. Рита в смятении, но заставляет себя уйти, напоминая, что они уже выросли и пошли разными дорогами. Витя не знает, что владелица ресторана Марина.

Витя приезжает к Марине, чтобы честно разорвать отношения. Он говорит, что между ними всё кончено. Марина держится внешне спокойно, но явно в шоке. Она предлагает «сделать вид, что этого разговора не было», если он передумает. Но Витя непреклонен.

Рита замечает, что отсутствие Вити в ресторане сильно её расстраивает — она постоянно смотрит на его пустой столик и делает ошибки на работе.

Вечером дома её ждёт Дима Люков. Он устраивает «вечер чистосердечных разговоров» и напрямую спрашивает про Витю. Дима категорически против их общения, считает Шестакова ненадёжным и предупреждает, что не сможет снова «склеить» Риту, если тот её снова сломает. Также выясняется, что Дима уже «поговорил» со Ждановым, чтобы тот больше не приставал к Рите.

Витя приезжает к детскому садику Матвея и случайно становится свидетелем того, как двух мальчишек обижают брата Риты. Он заступается, разгоняет обидчиков и учит Матвея давать отпор.

Когда Рита приезжает в садик за братом, Матвей радостно рассказывает ей про нового «друга» Витю. Мальчик приглашает Витю поехать с ними выбирать робота в магазин игрушек. Рита пытается возразить, но под напором брата соглашается. Витя едет с ними, чувствуя, что пропасть между ним и Ритой постепенно сужается.

Тем временем Марина впадает в тяжёлую депрессию после расставания с Витей. Она не выходит из дома, почти не ест и постоянно плачет. К ней приходят подруги Лера и Зоя. Лера предлагает радикальный вариант — «убрать» Риту (подставить, избить или даже покалечить через знакомых своего отца). Зоя в ужасе. Марина в растерянности и говорит, что ей нужно подумать.

Витя, Рита и Матвей едут в торговый центр за роботом-динозавром, о котором мечтает мальчик. Рита переживает из-за высокой цены игрушки. Пока Матвей играет с роботом, Витя тайком покупает его и откладывает на завтра как сюрприз.

Они играют в игровые автоматы, Витя выигрывает большую голубую акулу для Матвея. Все вместе ужинают в фудкорте. Атмосфера лёгкая и тёплая — словно они настоящая семья. Рита постепенно оттаивает и улыбается.

В машине Матвей случайно рассказывает Вите, что отец Риты бил её и однажды не пустил домой на Новый год. Витя в шоке. Когда Рита возвращается, он не выдерживает и прямо спрашивает, поднимал ли на неё руку отец. Рита подтверждает и убегает. Витя остаётся в машине, раздавленный чувством вины и боли.

Витя в ярости едет к отцу Риты и избивает его. Приезжает полиция. Витю забирают в участок.

Рита и её мама тоже приезжают. Олег Николаевич (отец Вити) решает вопрос деньгами и связями. Витя отказывается извиняться перед отцом Риты, заявляя, что единственное, в чём виноват — это то, что не защитил Риту раньше.

Рита в шоке от произошедшего. В полицейском участке она видит Витины разбитые костяшки и переживает только за него. После освобождения все едут к Шестаковым-старшим. Мама Риты наконец рассказывает Олегу Николаевичу правду о побоях.

Они приезжают домой к отцу Вити. Пока взрослые разговаривают, Витя уводит Риту в свою комнату. Между ними происходит очень эмоциональный разговор. Рита признаётся, что отец шантажировал её, запрещая общаться с Витей, и что она молчала из стыда. Витя винит себя за то, что не защитил её.

Они почти целуются, но их прерывает отец Вити, зовущий пить чай.

Рита смущается и убегает домой. Она в смятении: стены, которые она три года строила вокруг сердца, рушатся. Вспоминая прошлое и сегодняшний день, она понимает, что всё ещё любит Витю и хочет дать ему второй шанс.

Витя догоняет Риту на улице и уговаривает подвезти её домой. В машине между ними царит тёплая, неловкая близость. Они вспоминают детство, шутят и постепенно сближаются. Витя обещает, что больше никогда её не отпустит. Они обмениваются номерами, и Рита приглашает его на следующий день на пирог.

Витя в эйфории от примирения с Ритой. Ночью он звонит Антону и признаётся, что до сих пор любит её. На следующий день в университете к нему приходит Марина. Она пытается вернуть отношения, а потом показывает фото Риты с Димой, утверждая, что у Риты «есть другой». Витя злится, но решает немедленно поехать к Рите и разобраться.

Витя приезжает к Рите и прямо спрашивает про Диму. Рита рассказывает, что Дима — её лучший друг и сосед по квартире, который очень помог ей в трудный период. Витя ревнует, но старается держать себя в руках. Атмосфера напряжённая.

Рита подробно рассказывает Вите историю знакомства с Димой, как он помог ей после ухода из дома, и что они живут вместе как брат и сестра. Витя в шоке и ревнует, но пытается понять. Рита просит время подумать над их отношениями. Витя уходит расстроенный.

Рита переживает после ухода Вити. Она вспоминает их прошлое и решает, что не хочет больше терять его. Витя пишет ей сообщение с приглашением на свидание. Рита соглашается и предлагает отметить «долг» за пропущенный Новый год. Они договариваются о встрече.

Витя и Рита идут на первое настоящее свидание. Они гуляют по заснеженной аллее, держатся за руки, пьют кофе, шутят и вспоминают детство. Атмосфера романтичная и тёплая. Витя говорит, что Рита — его парадокс. Они почти целуются, но Витя сдерживается.

Рита узнаёт от мамы, что та съехала от отца и временно живёт у Шестаковых-старших. На работе Рита устраивает скандал с клиентом, а потом — с Мариной Анатольевной. Она прямо говорит начальнице, что знает о её слежке и бывших отношениях с Витей, и увольняется.

Рита окончательно увольняется из ресторана. Она больше не хочет терпеть унижения и интриги Марины. Несмотря на сложности, девушка чувствует облегчение и готовность двигаться вперёд вместе с Витей.

Витя забирает Риту после её увольнения из ресторана. Они едут к Шестаковым, где мама Риты с Матвеем уже живут. Там царит тёплая семейная атмосфера: ужин, шутки, помощь по дому. Витя и Рита флиртуют на кухне, чувствуя себя счастливыми и близкими.

Рита наслаждается вечером в кругу новой семьи. Позже в комнате Вити они находят старую открытку с вопросами и начинают играть. Атмосфера накаляется, они страстно целуются и переходят к более интимным ласкам. Рита полностью отдаётся чувствам к Вите.

После жарких поцелуев Витя и Рита лежат вместе. Витя счастлив. Когда Рита засыпает, звонит Дима. Витя ревнует, сбрасывает звонок и пишет, что Рита спит и находится с ним. Он ревнует, но рад, что она рядом.

После Нового года Рита окончательно переезжает к Вите. Дима пропадает и не отвечает на сообщения. Рита беспокоится, но наслаждается новой жизнью: они проводят время вместе, шутят и флиртуют. Она чувствует, что наконец-то по-настоящему счастлива.

Рита собирает вещи и переезжает к Вите. Она оставляет записку Диме с просьбой выйти на связь. Витя и Рита продолжают сближаться, радуются новым отношениям и семейной атмосфере.

Дима узнаёт, что кто-то заказал нападение (увечье) на Риту. Он в панике пытается дозвониться до неё, но телефон выключен. Он едет искать Риту и звонит Вите, чтобы узнать, где она.

Дима рассказывает Вите, что Рите угрожает опасность. Они договариваются встретиться у университета, где Рита сдаёт пересдачу.

Дима рассказывает Вите, что Рите угрожает опасность. Они договариваются встретиться у университета, где Рита сдаёт пересдачу.

Витя в панике мчится на машине к университету, сильно превышает скорость и отвлекается на звонок Димы. Происходит тяжёлая авария — Витя попадает в серьёзную ДТП.

Рита узнаёт об аварии и в шоке приезжает в больницу. Она не отходит от Вити, держит его за руку и плачет. Приезжают родители. Витя в тяжёлом, но стабильном состоянии. Рита ждёт, когда он придёт в сознание.

Витя приходит в сознание. Рита рядом, они держатся за руки. Позже приходит Дима и рассказывает, что заказчицей была Марина, но она в последний момент отменила заказ. Дима извиняется перед Витей. Витя предлагает ему легальную работу у отца. Между ними устанавливается взаимопонимание.

Прошло шесть месяцев. Рита успешно работает в SMM для местной кофейни, много времени уделяет работе и учёбе. Витя всячески поддерживает её: встречает, готовит, помогает по дому.

Они часто проводят время вместе, гуляют, ездят с Антоном и Юлей на природу. Мама Риты начинает роман с отцом Вити. В один летний день Витя сажает Риту на багажник велосипеда и везёт по парку. Во время прогулки он шутливо спрашивает, нравится ли ей фамилия Шестакова, намекая на будущее. Рита с улыбкой соглашается.

Рита встречает в хозяйственном магазине свою бывшую подругу Наташу Краснову. У Наташи теперь есть маленькая дочь, жизнь сложилась тяжело. Они обмениваются несколькими фразами, и Рита уходит, пожелав ей всего хорошего.

Тринадцать лет спустя
Витя приводит своего сына Лешу в спортивную школу к тренеру Рыжову. Мальчик мечтает играть в баскетбол, как когда-то отец. Витя выполняет своё давнее обещание и передаёт эстафету следующему поколению. Семья Шестаковых счастлива, жизнь сложилась успешно.

"ЛЮБОВЬ МЕЖДУ НАМИ"
СЮЖЕТ

Однажды Антон Леваков (19 лет) помогает незнакомкой девушке Юле Снегиревой (19 лет). Девушке с первого взгляда начинает нравиться молодой человек, и она решает оказывать ему знаки внимания.

На протяжении трех лет Юля каждый день встречает утром Антона, желает хорошего дня, по праздникам поздравляет, дарит подарки, сделанные своими руками. Парню некомфортно от этой ситуации, над нам также подшучивают друзья. Они не одобряют Юлю. Антон мечтает, чтобы девушка навсегда исчезла из его жизни и однажды, когда он ее оскорбляет, Юля в самом деле отдаляется.

Для Антона это становится неожиданностью, он неосознанно скучает по вниманию девушки и даже пытается извиниться перед ней, что ему крайне несвойственно. Однако каждая его попытка заканчивается неудачей.

Юля злится на Антона и внутри скучает по нему. Чтобы отвлечься, она в социальных сетях решает помочь одной школьнице разобраться в личной ситуации. Результатом их встречи становится поездка на ранчо, где Надя (девушка из интернета, пытается выяснить отношения со своим бывшим парнем). В процессе встречи происходит разборка и Юля узнает, что Надя – сестра Антона. В итоге девушки становятся подругами.

Через несколько дней, когда Юля заболевает, Антон едет к ней в гости и случайно узнает, что Юлю хотят сосватать за «выгодную партию» на торжестве, которое пройдет в выходные. В нем просыпается ревность. Антон жалуется своему другу Вите Шестакову (19 лет), и тот советует похитить с банкета Юлю, а заодно признаться ей в своих чувствах.

В день «икс» парни надевают маски и классические костюмы, в шутку похищая Юлю. Антон впервые признается, что девушка ему нравится, но получает отказ.

Чтобы вернуть расположение Юли, Антон решает организовать ей серию романтических свиданий по красивым местам Кавказских Минеральных Вод в виде квеста.

На подработке Юле сообщают, что нужно передать важные документы одному писателю, но он будет ждать в определенном месте. По случайности Антон оказывается рядом и подвозит Юлю туда, где якобы будет ждать таинственный писатель. В конце девушка понимает, что писателя никакого не существует и это Антон перед ней так извиняется. Она дает ему второй шанс, и ребята начинают встречаться.

Мама Юли не принимает ухажера дочери. Они ссорятся, и Юля уходит из дома. Антон хочет, чтобы любимая жила у него, но получает отказ. Юля жаждет стать самостоятельной, доказать своей маме, что она способна прожить и без родительской помощи. Они ругаются с Антоном, ведь Юля в нем видит лишь сына богатых родителей, такого же зависимого человека, как она сама.

Антон вновь не готов отступать. Он не говорит Юле о своем «подвиге», когда отказывается от денег родителей, переезжает в квартиру на окраине города и устраивается на работу в автомастерскую. Для него это тоже свой путь взросления.

Спустя время они мирятся, а Юля узнает, что Антон жил в соседней квартире. Оказывается, он арендовал квартиру себе и ей, оплачивая жилье со своих заработанных денег.

Весной Антон признается в любви Юле на паре по экономике. Он заходит с плакатом, на котором написано: «ты будешь моей девушкой?». Юля говорит «да».

Leonid Filimonov is a high-ranking official from the Main Directorate of Free Time, where he oversees the work of amateur and semi-professional folk groups. At meetings, whenever he has a free minute, Filimonov imagines himself standing up and telling the whole truth to his boss, a representative of the "old school," but he never does.

A musician by education, from a modest family, he married the daughter of a prominent statesman, Elena, raised a daughter with her, abandoned music, and made a career under the wing of his influential father-in-law. He lives in a luxurious apartment furnished with imported furniture, drives the latest model Moskvich, constantly travels abroad, and his table groans with scarce delicacies.

Everything changes after meeting Lida, a nurse who works in the medical center of the free time department. Lida is sincere, courageous, and creative: she acts in an amateur theater, does not fawn over Filimonov, and conducts herself with the dignity of a free, albeit modest, person. Filimonov suffers a heart attack and is taken to the infirmary. Lida then comes to his home to give him an injection, while his wife Elena is away.

Charmed, Filimonov begins courting her. Love takes him back to his days as a promising musician. Lida gives in, discovering in Filimonov an intelligence, kindness, and vulnerability that would be hard to suspect.

One day, his wife returns unexpectedly early and finds Filimonov in the apartment with a nurse. He is playing the flute for her, and she is dancing. His wife suspects him of infidelity, but he makes excuses, which offends Lida. She wants him to stop lying and leave her.

After confirming that her husband is indeed having an affair, Elena kicks him out of the house, and he comes to Lida, claiming he left on his own. Lida, tired of his lies, refuses to believe him and only lets him temporarily live in the corner of her room in the communal apartment, behind the closet. Gradually, he manages to regain Lida's favor, and their cohabitation ceases to be neighborly.

But the break with the daughter of an influential father jeopardizes his promotion - and he has already been promised the position of head of the department. By this time, Elena Filimonova, having cooled down and realizing that she is left alone, asks her husband to return to her; she returns his car and apartment keys. She agrees to forget everything. Moreover, Elena has not yet told her father about their separation.

Filimonov succumbs to the persuasion of his wife and colleagues and cowardly runs away from Lida, without even explaining himself. An insulted Lida resigns from the Directorate.

On her last day at work, Filimonov assumes his new position as Director. His colleagues are delighted; even his former boss fawns over Leonid. Looking out the window at Lida leaving the Directorate, Filimonov briefly imagines how wonderful it would be to resign, tell his subordinates everything he thinks about his senseless Directorate, return to Lida, and win her forgiveness. However, this is just a fantasy again, and Filimonov begins his first speech at the weekly meeting as Director.

At that moment, he suffers another heart attack. An ambulance is called. Feeling like he's about to lose consciousness, Filimonov calls for Lida. The arriving medical team begins resuscitating Filimonov; he experiences clinical death, and his soul is carried away to the afterlife, where people await the Supreme Court. He meets his parents, who chide him for not having visited their grave in a while. Meanwhile, Lida, seeing the ambulance rushing toward the office and realizing Filimonov's heart condition is failing again, runs into the office and, even though the doctors are about to pronounce him dead, throws herself on Filimonov's body, begging him not to die. Suddenly, Filimonov begins breathing, the doctors continue CPR, and Lida simply leaves.

CHARACTERS
Artem is the main character. In earthly life, Victor. Artyom, a former mercenary, is lonely, lost his parents early.
Inna - 23-25 ​​years old, fair-haired, blue-eyed, slightly snub-nosed, which adds piquancy to her image.
Aristarkh Lavrentievich ("Cerberus") – the hotel manager, a tall, very middle-aged man with a bony face and gray hair.
Kristina – reception staff. A platinum blonde with languid, languid eyes and a very, very curvaceous figure.
Darina – reception staff. A redhead with a wild look in her green eyes, a playful upturned nose, high breasts, and a wasp waist.
Arthur – reception staff. He looks like a young Scandinavian god: a perfect figure and facial features, icy blue eyes.
Gedrik and Fifochka - a pair of parrots about 400 years old.

Couples:
Artyom - Inna
Ivan - Alisa
Pasha - Olga
Vasily - Alla
Danila - Regina
Seryozha - Alena
Volodya - Zoya
Senya - Lisa
Valera - Kira
Maxim - Marina
Timofey - Emma
Vadim - Evgenia
Roma - Anfisa
Gera - Natella
George - Ariadna

SYNOPSIS
The protagonist wakes up in a completely unfamiliar place, awakened by a girl who also doesn’t quite understand what’s happening. From her, he learns that he now has a different name (it’s written on his badge), that clothes have been prepared for him that most closely resemble a hotel employee’s uniform, and then that the two of them need to get to the lobby for some kind of meeting, which is almost here. Moreover, they must arrive together and cannot be late. In case of late, they will be crossed off some unknown list.

The hotel gives the impression of luxury. It is furnished with expensive vintage furniture, the windows have wooden frames, luxurious lamps stylized as medieval lanterns, tapestries on the walls in places, wide marble staircases and marble inlaid floors, a retro-style elevator with double doors that must be opened manually.

In the hallway, the hero sees his reflection in the mirror - a complete stranger! The only thing he has in common with the handsome and courageous man in the mirror is a scar on his chin, received in childhood. Artyom shows Inna the mirror, the girl squeals and turns pale.

Together, the heroes decide that the most important thing for them now is to get out of here, and until they figure out what is happening, they should stick together.

Downstairs in the hall, people are already waiting. Behind the reception desk is a tall, very middle-aged man with a bony face and gray hair - the hotel manager Aristarkh Lavrentievich. Nearby, on a sofa, there are two more middle-aged men - these are the new co-owners of the hotel. One is tall, thin, with delicate features, dressed to the nines - Anatoly Anatolyevich. The second is a short, plump "little man" with disheveled hair and wrinkled jeans.

The manager informs the heroes, who burst into the hall at the last minute, that it is considered good manners to arrive 5 minutes before the appointed meeting. Inna notes that she doesn’t see a single watch or telephone in the hotel.

After the meeting has already begun, another couple enters the hall, but the manager shows them out the door, beyond which nothing can be seen except pitch darkness.

At the meeting, it becomes clear that the action is actually taking place in a hotel, that all the young men and women present in the hall (about thirty in number) are “conditionally” dead, and that they are all now employees of a hotel called “Crossroads”. Their job is to serve the guests of this establishment, simultaneously helping them understand and accept the fact that they, too, are dead. Their goal is to ensure that the guest leaves the hotel having sorted himself out. They have only 3 days to do this.

The heroes are informed that the Hotel is their lucky ticket. But there are only 20 vacancies for 30 applicants. Initial positions and occupations are determined by lottery, then promotions or demotions are determined weekly based on performance. Five misses mean you're out the door. Leaving the hotel without permission is prohibited.

Following the lottery, the heroes remain bellhops on their floor. After inspecting their first room, they find minor flaws, such as a lack of shower gel, for which they receive praise from the manager and their first plus sign on the board.

At lunch, Inna and Artyom meet Ivan and Alisa. Ivan warns that those drawn to work in the kitchen are clearly unhappy with their fate. Waitress Regina explains that the head chef, some Italian named "Maestro Antonio," bosses everyone around, and the sous-chef, Giovanni, is a nasty and very picky fellow.

After lunch, the heroes go to the reception, where two young ladies and a young man work behind the counter. Kristina is a platinum blonde with languid, languid eyes and a very, very curvy figure. Darina is a redhead with a wild look in her green eyes, a playful upturned nose, high breasts and a wasp waist. The guy, Arthur, looks like a young Scandinavian god: a perfect figure and facial features, icy blue eyes. Two parrots sit in a large cage nearby.

Artyom decides to start a conversation. The redhead brushes him off, and the parrot calls him a fool. The hero finds this trio interesting. At the meeting, they were told that the hotel is not unique, there are others. Artyom assumes that Kristina, Darina and Arthur were sent here from another hotel, probably for some misconduct.

The first hotel guests arrive. The first to enter is a middle-aged man with a sports bag, followed by a well-dressed woman of about 40.

On the floor, Natella and Georgy are waiting for their guest. In response to Artyom and Inna's polite greetings, Natella pointedly ignores them. Inna and Artyom decide that fair and honest play is not the main thing, but winning this struggle is. They both agree that they are lucky with their partners.

The woman of about 40, whom they saw in the lobby - Elena Nikolaevna, becomes their first guest. She enters the room and closes the door behind her, but after a while asks the bellhops to come in. She says that she knows she is dead and has already encountered people like them, "gatekeepers of the gates of eternity" in another hotel. But the guys here are more polite, and the guest does not allow them to ask her anything they want.

She does not remember how she died. She was getting ready to go to bed and that's it. And then she found herself at the hotel's doorstep. She was tired herself and wanted to sort things out and finish her journey. The conversation, which had dragged on for an hour, yielded no results, and Elena Nikolaevna ended it.

Artyom and Inna rushed to a corner at the end of the hall where the only computer was. According to the hotel rules, each couple had 30 minutes to try to find something that could help them sort out their guest. It was up to them to decide whether to spend it all at once or in parts. By the time they reached their spot, the couple was already fourth in line. A crowd was gathering behind them. While they waited, everyone began to discuss their guests. Liza and Arseny complained about their guest, Natella sarcastically interjected, but Inna abruptly cut her off...

Suddenly, a sound more like a howl emanated from the computer. The manager immediately appears, turns off the siren, and reminds them that the contract prohibits attempting to contact anyone from earthly life. Olga wanted to contact her mother; she was sobbing. Aristarkh reminds them that either of them can simply leave voluntarily. But then his partner would have to leave with him into nowhere. By the manager's decision, Olga and Pavel lose the right to use the internet with this and their next guests. After which the computer room is closed until tomorrow.

Kira and Artyom ask Aristarkh Lavrentyevich, in all fairness, to save places in line for everyone who stood in line but didn't get there. He agrees. Kira and Artyom clap their hands contentedly. Inna doesn't like this gesture.

In the evening, when Inna goes to take a shower, Artyom reads the contract, where he finds many interesting things. For example, flirting with guests is strictly prohibited, gambling is prohibited, and taking guests into the service areas is prohibited... And there's also a clause that, for a salary, they can improve their living conditions.

In the morning, the sun is at its zenith, contrary to all the laws of nature. Artyom and Inna analyze everything Elena has said and come to the conclusion that, when it comes to health, she kept changing the subject.

In the dining room, over breakfast, couples share stories about their guests. A dividing line begins to emerge between those drawn to the kitchen and those who were assigned to the floor.

While the heroes are pacing the lobby waiting for internet access to open, Aristarkh Lavrentyevich pounces on them with criticism, informing them that each of them has a room stock that they should look after and not waste time idle, because there is always something to clean, polish, vacuum, etc., and there is time for this only when the guest leaves the room.

Artyom realizes they have made a mistake and, while Elena is having breakfast, runs to the reception for the keys. He showers Christina with compliments and receives a reproach from Daria.

Having managed to clean the room before Elena returns and being very pleased with themselves, the heroes note that there are a lot of paper tissues in the trash can - Elena cries a lot!

They meet the guest in the hallway, she tells them that the parrots said to her: "Grief. Ashes." Artyom writes these words down in a notebook, since he is already sure that these birds are not chattering idle.

Artyom asks the manager where to get consumables, soap, shampoo ... And learns about the household wing, which is managed by Adelia Karlovna.

When the heroes finally get to the computer, a battle has already broken out. Alisa and Ivan arrived first and did not want to give in to anyone. Natella quarrels with Alisa. The team splits up. Kira calls on Aristarkh Lavrentyevich for help. By this time, things are on the verge of a fight. The manager intervenes, fulfills his promise, and restores order. After waiting her turn, Inna, pushing Artem aside, takes the search into her own hands. She searches Elena's social media accounts, her husband's, and her friends'... On her husband's page, in the comments under a photo, she finds that the cause of death was heart problems. Elena's husband is a doctor. Visiting the page of Elena's friend Larisa, they see a photo with a baby. According to their calculations, Elena was three months pregnant at the time of her death. There was also a photo of Elena's husband. Rewinding their feed, they find a photo indicating that Elena's husband had spent a vacation with Larisa in life—his hand, wearing a ring, was captured in the frame, and Larisa "accidentally" posted it.

At first, the heroes consider murder, then Inna suggests suicide. Then they decide to talk to their guest. Entering the room, Artyom asks the question point-blank: "Why didn't you just get a divorce?" Elena doesn't argue, isn't surprised, she simply tells her story. It turns out her husband didn't kill her. She took her heart medication every day, but that evening she took a second dose.

Elena asks about her loved ones, about her husband, about her friend... What did they call their daughter? "Elena!" Artyom unexpectedly answers. Suddenly, the manager appears at the door behind him and happily announces that Elena's stay at the hotel is over. Artyom and Inna were the first to complete the task and send their guest on his way.

A satisfied Inna is already getting ready for lunch, but Artyom dissuades her. The likelihood that Aristarkh Lavrentyevich will come to check whether they have prepared the room for the next guest or have rushed off to eat and rest is very high. And he was right. Fifteen minutes later, the manager arrives and is surprised to see the couple cleaning Elena's room. He praises them for their work and says they are forbidden from sharing or giving advice to other hotel employees about their guests. They could be the ones to suffer for this, especially if the guests don't check out because of the wrong advice and end up in the next hotel.

In the dining room, the couple is greeted with applause. But, as expected, not everyone applauds. They are pestered with questions, and Olga gets up and leaves.

After eating, the couple goes to the utility wing to look for Adelia Karlovna. Lost in the hallways, they come to the laundry room, where they meet Alena, who was sent from the kitchen to menial work after a complaint from the cook, Giovanni. She put a colander of spaghetti on his head for pestering her.

Going further, they see an incomprehensible door with no identifying signs and an eerie staircase leading into pitch darkness. Having finally found a door with a sign "A.K. Rosencrantz", they enter the office with relief. There sits a withered little old woman with a lorgnette and rings on her fingers, in the office there are antique oak cabinets. The old woman gives them a request form and a quill and inkwell so they can write a list of everything they need.

In the evening, Vadim and Zhenya knock on the heroes' room. They ask the guys for help with their guest. Artyom is very upset to refuse them, because he likes this couple. He explains that there is an unwritten rule. The couple leaves.

Thanks to their zeal and luck with their first guest, Artyom and Inna have earned three pluses on the manager's board and are already beginning to worry that these achievements might backfire, turning the team against them.

At dinner, the guys learn that tomorrow is the 5 PM deadline for all guests to check out of the hotel. At the table, everyone agrees to get together some evening to relax, having coordinated the event with Aristarkh. Zhenya asks Artyom to go to the manager with him. Aristarkh initially criticizes the messengers for their initiative, but listens to their arguments about team cohesion. "Cerberus" relents: "After the guests leave, it's okay."

On the way, Zhenya suggests that the couples form a temporary alliance. Inna and Artyom discuss in the evening who they shouldn't expect to stab in the back and who they can stick together with. Inna suggests Vadim and Zhenya, Elizaveta and Arseniy, Tima and Emma... As for the attractive Kira, Inna, being terribly possessive, immediately declares that his interactions with the girl, and especially his attraction to her, could cause a ton of problems for them, because Inna finds it unpleasant and has trouble controlling her emotions, and Kira infuriates her. Then Inna tells Artyom that Olga had another meltdown yesterday because of her mother, and Pasha even ran to the reception desk to get her medication. And Natella and Ariadna talked about something all evening. Regina also talks with them, making three growing couples, each one in a different league. Artyom fears that by creating a coalition, someone else should also initiate the unification. Those who don't get into the group will certainly harbor a grudge.

In the morning at breakfast, everyone learns that two more guests have been discharged. Timofey and Emma shared their stories, while Natella and Georgy kept their mouths shut. Natella and Ariadna were once again the first to have breakfast together.

After breakfast, Artyom asks the manager if the hotel has any books he can read in his free time. The manager allows him to borrow books from a special room. During the conversation, he learns that their hotel had been closed for some time. The manager won't say what happened, but the entire staff was disbanded, some were fired, and others were put on probation. Aristarkh Lavrentyevich, however, retained his position, as he was absent from the hotel on the day of the incident. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Artyom asks Cerberus for Alena, who placed a colander over the head of the cook who groped her. The manager, unaware of the circumstances of the conflict, promised to consider what could be done.

From his conversation with the manager, Artem understands that the reception staff are the same ones who were demoted. He is very interested to understand what happened there. Artem goes to the room where he can find books. There is everything under a layer of dust. The books take up three shelves. All the editions are old and in a variety of languages.

In the evening, Inna asks Artem if he got Alena out of the laundry room. It turns out that Aristarkh even apologized to her. Alena also told her that there is a place in the hotel that is much more creepy than the laundry room. Those who really screwed up end up there, and it is somewhere down there...

After dinner, everyone began to gather in the hotel bar. Alena sits down at Inna's table with Artem. She asks if he stood up for her. Inna replies that he did. Alena hugs him and kisses him on the cheek.

When everyone has gathered, Zhenya takes the floor and invites everyone to get to know each other better and share something about themselves, the most important memory from their lives. Zhenya talks about his sister, who drowned when they were children.

Artem tells how he was left an orphan after the death of his parents, how his guardian fled abroad with his inheritance, how he found him on Koh Samui, how he died from a snake bite brought by his Thai partner, and Artem then forked over some money to her.

Natella told how she killed her sister for stealing her boyfriend. And she killed the boyfriend too. Как умерла сама – Нателла не помнит, полагает, что ее убили в колонии.

Инна рассказывает историю о том, как один из множества маминых мужчин в детстве повлиял на ее решение стать журналисткой и как она потом искала его в журналистских кругах, но не смогла найти. Артем сомневается в искренности Инны. Когда мероприятие заканчивается и все уходят, бармен окликает свою напарницу Марину, и Инна неожиданно отзывается. Она почему-то расстроена, что Артем узнал ее настоящее имя.

На утро за завтраком ощущается общая тревожность в связи с предстоящим заездом новых постояльцев. Гостьей Артема и Инны становится 18-летняя девчонка по имени Полина, симпатичная, грудастая, полноватая. Она скандалит и постоянно требует вернуть ей смартфон. Она предполагает, что ее похитили, но Инна в лоб сообщает девушке, что она умерла. Пара пытается успокоить гостью, которая плачет, потому что она здесь, а «он – там!» Девушка говорит, что Антон вот-вот должен был сделать ей предложение, ей недавно исполнилось 18.

Отправив гостью в ресторан заедать стресс, они мчатся к интернету, но в социальных сетях найти ее не удается. Зато находится информация в новостных сводках. На фотографиях был ее «Антон», которого на самом деле зовут Амри. Оказывается, их отношениям был год, когда Идляль, друг Амри, опасаясь за моральный облик земляка, сообщил его жене об отношениях с юной Полиной. Жена, оказавшаяся крайне ревнивой, приехала, подкараулила Полину в подъезде и нанесла 11 ножевых ранений.

Герои находят гостью в баре. Артем просит Рому за ней присмотреть. На ресепшн стоит Дарина в прозрачной блузке, подчеркивающей ее объемную грудь. Она подмигивает Артему, он делает ей комплимент, Дарина заигрывает с ним, но тут Инна неожиданно оскорбляет Дарину, пройдясь катком по ее внешности и фигуре. Кристина смеется, а Артем понимает, что у них будут из-за этого проблемы. На этаже Инна обвиняет в случившемся Артема, ведь она его предупреждала о том, что собственница и не может себя контролировать.

Через какое-то время в их номер звонит Дарина и говорит паре прийти в бар с ведром и тряпками. Полину тошнило и она практически без сознания. Артем уносит гостью в номер, а Инну Дарина заставляеь вычищать полы за их гостьей.

Вечером Инна долго отмывается в душе. Она обижена на Артема за то, что он не заступился за нее. Он говорит, что она выбрала неподходящее время для ссоры с Дариной, ведь сейчас у них неприятности, потому что Полина вообще не готова принять то, что они узнали. А еще он советует извиниться перед Дариной, потому что она опытный сотрудник и гостей считывает на раз-два, а, если Инна не извинится перед ней, то скорее всего к ним будут попадать только самые сложные экземпляры. Инна расстроена, но согласна.

За завтраком все обсуждают две новости. Кира с Валерой ночью отправили своего постояльца. А еще сегодня ночью чуть не изнасиловали Ольгу. Гость оказался психом, вырубил Павла, когда тот повернулся спиной. Ольга пыталась сопротивляться, но безуспешно. Слава богу, Павел быстро очухался и связал гостя.

Вечером герои рассказывают Полине обо всем, что с ней произошло. Девушка начинает сквернословить, но, когда Инна предлагает ей помощь – она отказывается и говорит, что будет здесь ждать любимого. Она выставляет коридорных из номера, вешает на дверь табличку «не беспокоить» и обещает пожаловаться на них, если они еще хоть раз посмеют к ней зайти. На этом их общение заканчивается. Ее время в отеле истекает, а герои получают первый минус на доске результатов.

К концу недели коллектив очевидно расслаивается на группы. Управляющий озвучивает результаты – герои остаются на этаже, а те, кто никак себя не проявил снова устраивают жеребьевку. Неожиданно Ольга спрашивает Аристарха Лаврентьевича, может ли она навсегда уйти. Аристарх соглашается, но, согласно правилам, Павел обязан составить ей компанию. Павел в шоке, он не готов уходить. Управляющий говорит, что подобная ситуация не новая и есть вариант решения – если кто-то из молодых людей пожелает сам покинуть отель. Неожиданно голос подает Иван, напарник Алисы. Он протягивает руку Ольге и говорит: «Пошли!» Все отмирают лишь после того, как за ними закрывается дверь. Паша с Алисой образовывают новую пару, которая по правилам должна начать путь с низов. А Зоя и Владимир как явные аутсайдеры получают второй шанс проявить себя – их отправляют коридорными на этаж!

Артем понимает, что точно не сдастся.

Historical thriller
Survival
Siberia

Script request based on the famous novel by Jules Verne.

An imperial courier is blinded by his own former mentor and abandoned in the Siberian steppe - alive, because someone needs him as a hostage. On his back is a mechanical cipher weighing a pood. Ahead are two thousand miles to Irkutsk and the man who once saved his life is now waiting for him there.and.

WORLD OF HISTORY
Russia holds Siberia on two threads: the Siberian Highway and the telegraph. Take one away, and everything falls apart. This is a world of pig iron, coal, and orders that cannot be ignored. Power here is transferred through paper: a travel document, a letter of credence, a sealed dispatch. Without paper, you're nothing, and everyone knows it—from the coachman to the governor. They face the Turanian Union—an old civilization that remembers Timur, remembers the Genghis Khans, and has seen empires far more powerful than Russia come and go. They know how to wait—for decades, if necessary.

Turan has retreated underground—into ancient irrigation tunnels, karizes, thousands of years old, because the surface doesn't protect, it exposes. Their fortresses look like hills from the outside. None of the locals will show the way to them, for fear of something that has no name in Russian.

Fighting them is fighting a shadow. Troops emerge from the darkness and retreat, leaving no trace: the horses' hooves are wrapped in cloth. Before an attack, they release a stupefying smoke that disorients soldiers so much that they shoot at their own. They communicate via low-frequency gongs: the sound sinks into the ground, impossible to hear with the ear—only felt with the sole of your foot, if you know what to look for. At a distance, they use mirrors and kites with mirrored plates, whose signals Imperial observers mistake for sun glare. Their weapons are arrows, poison, and petroleum distillates that ignite spontaneously in air and cannot be extinguished with water.

Russian officers write in their reports that they are fighting a ghost. Not a single prisoner knows the location of the Turanian bases. Not a single local guide will lead them there.

The Turanian operation was prepared for several years. Turan's agents stole the imperial codebooks, and since then, false orders have been flowing through the wires: garrisons are being withdrawn to the steppe to respond to nonexistent threats, supply trains are being diverted, reinforcements are stuck at way stations awaiting dispatches that will never arrive. Irkutsk is left alone—and the governor doesn't understand why. All the papers indicate that help is coming.

The only way to stop this is to deliver the Codex. A mechanical cipher, a system of interlocking gears and lettered rings, a physical algorithm that cannot be copied or transmitted—it must be brought and installed in the governor's personal office. It weighs over a pood. A rectangular box with sharp corners, worn on the back in a leather mount, it shifts the center of gravity so much that one must relearn how to stand on a slippery surface. Strogoff travels alone, without guards, because a column with guards is a target.

CHARACTERS
Mikhail Strogoff - A former military officer, transferred to the emperor's couriers. He is as good in this service as he was good in war: he doesn't think too much, goes to the end, doesn't lose his load.
He has one trait - he can't live with an unpaid debt. If someone did something for him, he can't sleep peacefully until the account is closed. This is an inconvenient character trait that he stopped explaining to others long ago.
Eight years ago, Ivan Ogarev pulled him from the battlefield under fire. Strogoff remembers this every day.

Ivan Ogarev - Taught Strogoff to fight. He was one of the best officers of his generation, reliable, a role model. Then the Empire gradually ground him down—orders that couldn't be disputed, people who had to be lost, years of service in which you were always expendable.
He left for Turan out of fatigue and curiosity about people who lived differently. There, they accepted him and used him. Ogarev knows this and doesn't take offense: at least here, it's honest. But in the Turanian hierarchy, he's a kafir—an outsider with useful knowledge. Decisions are made by the military commander Temir, a man with so many wars under his belt that Ogarev looks like a student next to him.

Nadya - The daughter of an engineer exiled to Irkutsk five years ago for political reasons. She goes to him without permission—and finds herself outlawed at the first document check.
Her father's story isn't as simple as she tells it. Her father was involved in populist circles, sympathized with them, printed leaflets on his own equipment, and let the right people spend the night. That was enough. He was arrested administratively, without trial, on the basis of a denunciation—and Nadya knows whose denunciation it was. Several years ago, after a quarrel with her father, she let slip something inappropriate in a conversation with a neighbor. Not out of malice, but out of resentment, in her youth, not understanding where it would lead. Where it went, she found out two weeks later.
Since then, she has lived with it. She is going to her father because she can no longer not go.
She needs Strogoff for one pragmatic reason: the emperor's courier is a pass through any border. She leads him, he legitimizes her.
She hates the decoder—heavy, inconvenient, because of it they almost drowned at the ferry. Strogoff didn't abandon him, and she remembered this with irritation, because a man who doesn't drop his load for the sake of a mission is understandable. A man who doesn't drop his load when he's drowning is something else, and she doesn't know what yet.

Temir - Commander of the Turanian Union. Has seen more wars than Ogarev has lived in years. He speaks little and makes decisions that seem strange at first glance - and turn out to be correct three turns later. It is he who decides to leave Strogoff alive: not out of mercy, but for a reason that Ogarev doesn't immediately understand.

SYNOPSIS
I. Blueprint
Prologue - Night steppe. The imperial garrison is encamped: sentries, fires, horses, all is calm. Then a smell appears, something chemical, unfamiliar. Several soldiers begin to behave strangely, shooting into the darkness. The officer tries to restore order—and at that moment, the first oil shell flies out of the darkness. It doesn't burn like ordinary fire, but liquidly, spreading, unaffected by water.

The Turanian detachment leaves the same way it came—silently, into the darkness, leaving no traces in the snow. Dawn reveals what remains of the camp. On the horizon, the steppe and nothing else. This is what the Empire is fighting—and what it doesn't understand.

Strogov receives an assignment in St. Petersburg and heads east. It's winter, the road is almost empty, post stations are every twenty miles. The world looks like a blueprint: straight lines, telegraph poles, predictable distances. This is his environment.

The first signs of something wrong appear almost imperceptibly, then mount. At one station, the caretaker hands out horses too eagerly—as if he'd been expecting them. On the next day, three people have been sitting in a corner drinking tea for several hours; the horses are fresh, but they are in no hurry. Strogoff does not change his pace. At the next stage, a verst from the station, he turns into a small forest and removes the decoder—hides it under a fallen spruce, memorizing the location by three landmarks. He continues on lightly.

At an inn near Omsk, he catches a glimpse of Nadya—a young woman alone, the owner staring at her documents longer than usual. Strogoff notes this and forgets.

At night, there is a skirmish in the yard—quick, almost silent. These people know how to work in the dark. Strogoff is taken in the entryway, Nadya in the yard. For the Turanians, she is a chance catch.

Strogov is searched by torchlight. They find documents—a travel document, credentials, a personal seal. No decoder. Ogarev, standing to the side, watches this in silence, then looks at Strogoff. They have not seen each other for three years. Ogarev nods—almost affably—and puts the documents in his bag.

Temir watches everything from the doorway. One glance is enough for him: this one will not say quickly. Maybe he will not say at all.

The pressure begins. Strogoff remains silent out of calculation: while the location of the hiding place is known only to him, he is needed alive. This is his only currency. Ogarev is in a hurry—the imperial confusion in the telegraph network will not last forever. Two days later, he leaves for Irkutsk under the name of Strogoff, with his documents and his seal.

Several more days pass. No result. Temir decides to execute; a hostage who remains silent is an extra mouth to feed. Someone conveys this decision to Ogarev—a messenger, a light signal. He turns around, returns, and says to Temir: give him to me. Temir looks at him with the expression of a man who waits for the interlocutor to hear himself what he said. Then he gives permission - but do it yourself.

Ogarev does it himself. Blinds him with petroleum distillate. Strogoff is left to live blind. Ogarev speaks to him quietly, while he is still conscious: you owe me. Again. Then he leaves finally.

Strogoff and Nadya are thrown into a pit along with several Russian prisoners. Dark, cold, earthen walls. Strogoff lies and does not move. Nadya is sitting by the wall - she was in the yard when they took him out, she saw his face. After some time, she tells him quietly and without preamble: I know how to get out of here. You have something that will help us get through the cordons. Take me to Irkutsk - I will take you. Strogoff is silent for a long time, then speaks well.

Escape. Her plan, her execution. He follows her in the dark.

II. Darkness
They leave at night, Nadya in front, Strogov behind her. He holds her elbow. She doesn't slow down and doesn't explain where they're going. He doesn't ask.

The first stop is an abandoned hunters' winter hut two miles from the camp. Nadya bandages his eyes without sympathy. He doesn't thank her. In the morning, she explains the route - he listens, remembers, asks specific questions. He asks: how do you know all this. She says: father wrote detailed letters. Strogov isn't sure this is the whole truth. But for now it's enough.

The decoder needs to be retrieved first. Nadya leads him back to the highway, to the fallen spruce. Strogov finds the cache with his hands - the landmarks were visual, and now they have to translate them into steps and textures. They spend an hour searching. Nadya is silent, but he can feel it in her breathing, the effort involved. He finds it. He puts on the binding. Nadya looks at it and, for the first time, says out loud what she's thinking: we won't get there with this. Strogov replies: we will.

The first few days, the road teaches him physically anew, through error. He falls on the ice: with the decoder on his back, he can't feel where his balance ends. The third time, Nadya speaks briefly - her left foot is slightly wider. He tests it, works, and memorizes it as a technical fact.

He begins to hear the road. At first, roughly - ice under snow sounds different from the ground. Then, more subtly - the draft of smoke half an hour before a dwelling, the change in echo when there are buildings ahead, the way a horse's breath changes a mile from other horses. Nadya notices that he slows down in the right places before she has time to warn him, and stops warning him in advance.

At the cordons, she speaks, he remains silent. The cover story is simple: my husband, shell-shocked on duty, I'm taking him to the doctor. The decoder is in the sleigh under the hay. Strogov has no documents - Ogarev took everything. Nadya solves this differently each time: where she pays, where she speaks, where she looks at the officer in a certain way. Strogov stands nearby and listens to her work. She is good - better than the daughter of an exiled engineer should be.

He asks her one evening: have you done this before? Not a question - a statement. She does not answer right away - sometimes she did. He does not continue. She does not either.

The crossing of the Angara takes place in April, when the ice is no longer winter. Nadya chooses a place - where it is shallower and where the ice has held longer, according to her calculations. Her calculations are almost correct. Strogov walks with the decoder on his back, and on the cracks it leads to the left. In the middle of the river, the ice gives way from under his right foot, then his left, and the decoder pulls him down. Nadya drags him by the collar with both hands, the ice crumbling under her knees. She pulls them both onto the bank and sits next to him for a long time while he coughs and holds the binding with numb fingers. Then she says - not to him, more to herself - because of this thing we will both drown. He answers without turning around - we will not drown.

Near Krasnoyarsk, Nadya decides to take a shortcut along the old highway, which she remembers from her father's letters. Shorter by half a day. Strogov agrees - he trusts her calculations, this is already an established procedure.

The old road. Deaf, trees close to the sled tracks. They stop them, at first as if to help - they're lost, it's dangerous here, come to us. The intonation is wrong. Strogov hears it right away - too many people are breathing around. Nadya sees knives.

They press her against the sleigh and tell her, not him - they don't take a blind man into account. She looks at Strogov. She says: here he is, take him and what's behind him, let me go. Strogov hears every word.

The robber takes a step towards him. Strogov hits with his whip - without looking, by the sound of his footsteps. He hits. The second blow is in the other direction - someone exhaled there. The horse leaps forward. Nadya manages to jump into the sleigh.

The horse goes along the old road and on its own enters the mill yard - a familiar place. Strogov hears: wooden buildings, creaking, the smell of old flour, voices inside - talking in hushed tones and falling silent as the sleigh enters. Nadya understands before he does: the miller is in cahoots. The robbers follow - for ten minutes, no more.

She speaks to him quietly: the mill, the miller is ours, they will be here soon. Strogov is already climbing out of the sleigh. He asks one thing: where are the flour sacks.

She tears the sacks. He scatters the flour in wide movements - across the floor, in the air, raising a cloud. He still can't see anything. The robbers enter - three of them, the miller with them. In the cloud of flour, you can't see further than an outstretched arm. They stop, blink, shout to each other. Strogov hears where each one is and works with his whip and elbows - quickly, without wasted movements, in the darkness in which he has lived for two months. Nadya sees the miller walking around Strogoff from behind with something heavy, and she hits him first. He was simply walking behind her and she was closer.

When the cloud settles, there are four on the floor. Nadya looks at Strogoff. He stands and breathes evenly, as if nothing special. She finally says what she didn't say on the road - did you hear it there on the road? He says - he heard it. She says: I don't know why. He says: I know. She doesn't ask what he means. They harness the horse and ride away.

A week before Irkutsk, Strogoff asks her about her father. She tells him without further ado - they exiled him five years ago, for political reasons, they cut off his correspondence. She rode at random - without permission, without a plan to get further than that. Strogoff is silent, then says - when I deliver the codex, the governor will owe me. I'll try. She doesn't answer right away - you don't know how this will end. He says, I know I have to try. She doesn't answer. But she moves on.

III. Irkutsk
They enter the city with the evening convoy - Strogoff in a sheepskin coat that reaches his eyes, Nadya says what needs to be said at the outpost. The officer looks at her longer than usual. She doesn't look away. He waves his hand.

Irkutsk lives as if nothing is happening. Strogoff can hear this by the sound of the city - no siege alarm, no military rhythm. The city does not know that it is already inside a trap. Ogarev does his job well.

They stop the sleigh at the inn - the last time they do not have to go anywhere. She says - from now on you are on your own. He says: I know. The governor's house - I need to know where. She describes how to get there. He nods. She looks at him and says - do not ask, you will get there. He doesn't answer.

Then he says, without turning around, already getting out of the sleigh. Your father. I'll try. She's silent for a second. She says, I know.

They separate. She goes to her father. He goes to the governor's house.

Ogarev entered Irkutsk a week ago. Strogoff's documents opened all the doors. The governor received him, listened to him, believed him. Ogarev lived in the city for a week under a false name, ate at the governor's table, watched the telegraph unit work in the office. Waiting for the moment. This evening the moment has come.

Strogoff walks through the city. Three blocks north, then to the right - counting his steps and listening to the echo change between the houses. He finds the large gates with lanterns by the warmth - the lanterns warm the air a little differently than the wall. There are two guards at the gate. Обходит по переулку — там забор, старые доски, одна держится хуже других, он это слышит когда проводит рукой. Коридор второго этажа. Слышит телеграфный аппарат раньше, чем находит дверь — характерный ритмичный стук, тихий, но различимый. Дверь не заперта.

Огарев стоит у аппарата спиной к двери. Слышит, как она открывается. Оборачивается. Они смотрят друг на друга — один видит, другой нет. Огарев видит - слепой, мокрый, с пудом металла за спиной, живой вопреки всякой логике. Строгов слышит - один человек у дальней стены, дыхание ровное — не испуганное, удивлённое.

Огарев говорит — почти с уважением - ты дошёл. Строгов - дошёл. Пауза. Огарев - ты не можешь меня остановить — ты меня не видишь. Строгов - я тебя слышу.

Огарев делает шаг в сторону — проверяет. Строгов поворачивает голову точно за ним. Огарев останавливается.

Строгов бросает дешифратор на пол между ними — тяжёлый удар, металл о дерево. Огарев инстинктивно смотрит вниз. В этот момент Строгов уже движется - он знал, куда бросить. Они сцепляются. Огарев сильнее и видит, но он привык работать в пространстве, которое понимает. Строгов движется не так, как зрячий человек, и слышит раньше, чем Огарев успевает решить.

Строгов добирается до отопительных котлов у стены — он знал, что они здесь, по теплу и тихому гудению. Бьёт по вентилю. Пар идёт мгновенно, грохот, белое облако, температура. Огарев отскакивает - пар обжигает, ничего не видно, Строгов не отскакивает. Ему не нужно видеть

Он слышит, где Огарев, — по дыханию, по тому как тот переступает, по скрипу пола под ногами человека. Идёт к нему. Огарев слышит шаги и бьёт — не туда. Строгов бьёт — туда. Огарев падает.

Строгов находит дешифратор руками, находит телеграфный аппарат по звуку — он всё ещё работает, стучит вхолостую. Устанавливает дешифратор в гнездо на ощупь, шестерёнки встают на место одна за другой. Последняя встаёт с коротким металлическим щелчком.

Первая подлинная депеша уходит в Петербург.

Пар оседает. В дверях стоит Надя — она пришла. Смотрит на Строгова у аппарата, на Огарева у стены — живого, без сознания. На дешифратор.

Строгов говорит, не оборачиваясь — он слышит её дыхание в дверях – ну как отец. Она говорит - видела его. Живой он.

Строгов кивает. Молчит. Потом повторяет - губернатор мне должен. Я попробую. Она не отвечает сразу. Потом говорит тихо - ты должен был умереть где-то под Томском. Он - наверное.

Она смотрит на Огарева у стены. Спрашивает - он тебя спас. Строгов отвечает - дважды. Она - и что теперь. Он молчит достаточно долго. Потом говорит - не знаю. Первый раз не знаю.

Финальный кадр — Строгов сидит у телеграфного аппарата, аппарат стучит. Огарев у стены дышит. За окном Иркутск живёт как будто ничего не случилось. Надя стоит в дверях и смотрит на человека, который не знает, что делать с открытым долгом.

Psychological drama
Detective
Thriller
Family
Fathers and Sons
Social Networks
Death Groups
Netstalking
Loneliness

The third novel in the detective book series about Zamyatin and Pogodin.

SYNOPSIS
The plot of the novel "Quiet House" is based on the death of fifteen-year-old Liza Lapteva. She fell from the balcony of the 13th floor, in her hand she had a note with two words "Quiet House". By all indications, this is suicide, especially since cuts of varying ages are found on the girl's wrists. However, Liza's mother refuses to believe this version. Through persistence and tears, she forces an unofficial investigation. Ivan Zamyatin, a Moscow Criminal Investigation Department investigator, reluctantly agrees to help her. He tells his friend Miroslav Pogodin, a PhD candidate with whom he investigated the murders in the novel "The Rose and the Cross," about the girl's death and the strange note.

Pogodin informs him that "Quiet House" is not just an abstract phrase; he has encountered it before. Pogodin also saw fresh cuts on the wrists of one of his students, and the student then told him the theory about "Quiet House." "There is a legend about the depth and accessibility of websites. The deeper, the more interesting and dangerous. The very bottom, the very end, and the very peak—Quiet House—are the point of no return to the real world. Quiet House is not a website. It is the state of a person who has undergone an informational rebirth. You can get to Quiet House through sleep, life, and the Internet," the legend goes. (#тиийдом is also one of the hashtags for death groups on VK).

Three parallel plot lines develop in the novel "Quiet House":

1. The line of informal investigation, which reveals the theme of modern teenagers' fascination with the internet and the myths that have arisen around the World Wide Web. In particular, it is about teenagers' fascination with netstalking (studying the Dacnet, deep web, etc.), the theory about the "Quiet House", and death groups. This line, in turn, branches into three tracks that the investigators follow. Zamyatin undertakes to find out who is behind the death groups, Pogodin finds out the origins of the infernal web legend about the Quiet House and who is behind it. A third participant in the investigation, Ray Madsen, is recruited as an expert on netstalking. He is obsessed with finding the Quiet House, a virtual Shambhala. Ray's task is to comb through the dead girl's laptop and online traces to determine whether her death is directly related to the online search for the Quiet House. Ray finds entries in Lisa's laptop, each of which is classified, just like the most valuable "finds" of netstalkers. Ray gradually deciphers the entries, which turn out to be the girl's personal diaries.
2. The book's second plot line focuses on the relationships within the deceased Lisa's family. Her parents' unhappy marriage, the environment in which she was raised, and the subtle psychological abuse she inflicted on her child, which the adult family members overlook. The main character in this storyline is Lisa's mother. The focus is on her delusions, thoughts, and feelings during her youth, while raising her daughter, and after her death. And most importantly, her experiences due to the death of her daughter and the need to get to the bottom of the truth: did Lisa commit suicide and is she guilty. This is the main thing the mother expects from the investigation. If it turns out that this is the case, then she herself will no longer be able to live.
3. The third line is Lisa's own diaries, in which her thoughts, feelings and experiences are gradually revealed. Ray Madsen deciphers one entry after another as the book progresses, and we are drawn deeper and deeper into the girl's thoughts, experiences and teenage suffering. The last page of the diary was written on the day of Lisa's death and sheds light on the true reasons for her death and answers her mother's main question.

As the narrative progresses, the three plot lines become very closely intertwined, increasing the intrigue.

In the end, Zamyatin, Pogodin and Ray Madsen come to the conclusion of their investigations. Thus, Zamyatin discovers that the death groups were invented by his colleagues from Department "K" to create a precedent for restricting freedom of speech on the Internet, citing its danger to the fragile psyche of adolescents. After all, the Internet is the opposition's main weapon in the fight against the official authorities; it disseminates information that is not allowed on TV and in the press, it organizes rallies, and so on. At the same time, when staging the death groups, the authorities did not calculate that the fictitious "death groups" would acquire rabid imitators who would actually begin driving teenagers to suicide. (Zamyatin will detain one of them).

Pogodin will find the man who invented the religion of modern teenagers – netstalking and the virtual paradise – the Quiet House. He turns out to be a once-talented student of a professor who teaches memetics as an optional course in Russia. Memetics believes that any religion is just a meme complex. This student, using memetics, created the "Quiet House" meme complex, which has become a new religion for modern teenagers. Pogodin meets him and sees an ordinary, average system administrator. No one knows that he has invented a new religion and that he works in a medium-sized company, like an ordinary, nondescript quiet guy.

Ray Madsen will find "Quiet House" - that will be the title of the last entry on Lisa's laptop. In it, Lisa will say that what hurts her most is how unhappy her parents are...

When informing Lisa's mother of the investigation results, Zamyatin will spare her. He will not say that Lisa committed suicide because of what was happening in their family. He will say that she was a victim of death groups.

FRAGMENTS
"– How should we live now, Azim?" – She finally looked up at him. “Wherever you go, you take yourself with you. Even there,” he pointed at the ceiling. “No matter what world you continue to exist in, there will never be anything more permanent than you. So learn to get along with yourself. Until you do, there’s no need to rush to your daughter.”

“By the way, there’s another amusing legend about deadly files,” he said when the waiter had left. “If you download a number of deadly files, including Sueside Mouse, and sort them into a folder on your computer, they will transform into a computer program that will launch spontaneously, and the computer’s owner will meet a terrible end.” “Are these the mysterious discoveries of netstalkers?” Pogodin asked, making notes in his diary. “Of course not. Although Sueside Mouse is indeed a curious thing. But we’re not interested in what’s on the surface; we’re striving to penetrate the depths of the network.”

“I find another video more curious – ‘Suicide Mouse,’” Ray said, looking past Pogodin at the window behind him. “The main character is Mickey Mouse, hence the title. According to legend, the video was discovered in the Disney Studio archives when they decided to release Mickey’s adventures, which Walt Disney himself drew in the 1930s, on DVD.”

“According to legend, the Quiet House is the lowest point of the network, a hidden bottom. To reach it, you need to go through all the levels of the network, learn all its secrets, and it will appear as the apogee of virtuality. But the Quiet House is also a point of no return; at best, a transition to a new level of consciousness, and at worst… no one knows. Anyone who seriously seeks it must be prepared for the fact that their earthly life may end. How exactly this happens is unknown.”

Esoteric Detective. Publishing Solutions, 2019

Esoteric detective
A thriller
Psychological drama
Moscow
Psychic
Oligarch
Tibet
Shambhala
Spiritual quest
"Little" people
Love
Humor

"White Brotherhood" is the second book by Eleonora Pakhomova about the new adventures of Ivan Zamyatin and Miroslav Pogodin.

The heroes of the detective novel seek clashes with secret forces and discover the laws of the universe. Tibetan mysticism is closely intertwined with Moscow scams – a very dangerous cocktail.

The ruined businessman Strelnikov, whose airliner, packed to the brim with tourists, crashed into the sea, leaves his hated Moscow and sets off for Tibet in search of Shambhala. He is joined by a young occult researcher, Miroslav Pogodin, and Professor Rodnyansky, who is also fascinated by the same topic.

Meanwhile, in Moscow, the PR woman Svetochka drags her protégé, a graduate of a TV show about psychics, onto the roof of a cathedral and forces him to predict the Apocalypse. Vadim Sigismundovich Uspensky manages to portray the prophet so convincingly that he himself begins to believe in his own chosenness. Moreover, his prophecies unexpectedly begin to come true...

SYNOPSIS
The plot of the novel "White Brotherhood" begins with the fifty-year-old Vadim Uspensky, a finalist of the TV show "Battle of Psychics," now somewhat forgotten by the public, climbing onto the roof of a cathedral in the center of Moscow in broad daylight and proclaiming a prophecy about the imminent end of the world, promised by Vanga, from which only the White Brotherhood can save humanity. After which Vadim Sigismundovich falls from the cathedral to the terrified gasps of the crowd.

Then the reader discovers the second plot line of the novel: the oligarch, owner of the second largest airline in Russia, Vladimir Strelnikov, has locked himself away from everyone in his country house. The day before, the flagship of his air fleet crashed along with its passengers. But that's not all: Vladimir Sergeyevich is about to announce the bankruptcy of his airline to everyone. The public is wondering if Strelnikov has gone mad from the shock. To check, the Pogodins, father and son, are arriving with him (Miroslav Pogodin is also one of the main characters in the novels "Rose and Cross" and "Quiet House"). Strelnikov declares that he doesn't care about the bankruptcy of the business; he is a long-time adherent of the ancient Tibetan religion of Bon, and in the coming days he will be leaving on an expedition to Tibet in search of Shambhala (closely associated with the legend of the White Brotherhood), and he invites Miroslav to join him.

Next, three storylines develop before the reader:

1. The story of the fake psychic Vadim Uspensky, a graduate of the show "Battle of Psychics," and now an employee of a magic salon affiliated with the show. In this storyline, the reader (viewer) is revealed the truth about the seamy side of the TV show about psychics (casting based on charisma, working according to a script, a mandatory contract with the show organizers and then working for the money by working in a magic salon, etc.). In this storyline, we also learn the ins and outs of modern PR technologies, how, with the help of PR, a folk hero, prophet, and messiah is made out of "nothing" with the help of PR. Uspensky's actions in the media arena are managed by his PR specialist and lover, thirty-two-year-old Svetlana. It was Sveta who forced Uspensky to climb the cathedral and shout prophecies about the end of the world and the coming of the White Brotherhood, in order to attract media attention to him with a resonant topic. Afterwards, Uspensky was detained for 15 days, and when he was released, continuing the apocalyptic theme, he told reporters that he had a vision and that "a plane will crash tomorrow." Sveta sprinkles ashes on her head, as no plane crash is expected on the specified date, and everyone will understand that Uspensky is no prophet. However, a plane crash actually occurs! Everyone is astonished: the public, Sveta, and Vadim Sigismundovich himself.
2. The second storyline unfolds before us the story of the practically bankrupt aviation magnate and oligarch Vladimir Strelnikov. At the height of his life's turmoil associated with ruin, he assembles an expedition to Tibet in search of Shambhala. Strelnikov has long been fascinated by the ancient Tibetan religion of Bon (the original Tibetan religion), which espouses mass sacrifices for the sake of power. Now he intends to throw everything aside and finally realize his long-held dreams by assembling an expedition in search of the mystical Shambhala, home of the White Brothers. Now, he believes, is the perfect time. The expedition includes Strelnikov's assistants/guards, an elderly professor specializing in this subject, Miroslav Pogodin, who brings along his enormous dog, Alisa (rescued as a puppy at the end of "The Rose and the Cross"). Once in Tibet, the expedition is joined by a local guide named Choepel (foreigners in Tibet are not allowed to travel deep into the country without a guide and special passes) and Lama Rinpoche (practically a saint by local standards), who asks travelers in fancy SUVs for a ride to Kailash.
3. The third plot line unfolds in love letters sent to Vadim Uspensky, the screen star, by an unhappy, lonely woman from a remote province. She lives in a communal apartment, works a low-paying job, and anything interesting happens to her only in her dreams, in which she is happy with Uspensky. In reality, however, there is complete darkness. Her letters to Uspensky are intercepted and read by his PR specialist, Svetlana. Sveta nicknames this woman "Blessed." Uspensky himself knows nothing about the Blessed One or her letters.

All three plot lines are tightly intertwined as follows. The false psychic Uspensky accidentally prophesies a plane crash. The plane with passengers actually crashes in Russia. This plane belongs to the airline of Vladimir Strelnikov, who is at that time in Tibet and moving with a group to the mystical Mount Kailash, where he intends to find the entrance to the legendary, mystical Shambhala, where, according to legend, live the true all-powerful rulers of the world – the White Brotherhood.

The closer Vladimir Strelnikov gets to Shambhala, the more often planes with passengers from his failing airline crash, and the more attention in Moscow is paid to the person of the psychic Uspensky, whose random prophecies about plane crashes come true again and again. To make his prophecies seem convincing, Uspensky, at Sveta's behest, brings in Vanga, who spoke of the imminent arrival of the White Brotherhood. Because of the self-fulfilling prophecies about plane crashes, Uspensky is constantly on the front pages of newspapers, holding high-profile press conferences, being hailed as the new messiah, and everyone dreading the coming end of the world he speaks of. The blessed one continues to write him her poignant letters, telling him of her experiences, a life spent in suffering and compassion for others, and the twists and turns she has experienced.

Meanwhile, Strelnikov is moving ever closer to Mount Kailash, but along the way, his expedition is beset by various misfortunes, including illness and then the inexplicable death of one of Strelnikov's guards, among others. But Strelnikov is unstoppable on his way to his goal. Ultimately, in order to pass the final forbidden barrier on the way to Kailash, he kills their guide in front of the expedition members and confronts the professor, who, it turns out, considers Strelnikov a monster and only went on the expedition to stop him. Strelnikov invites Miroslava Pogodin to enter Shambhala with him. Pogodin tries to reason with him, as he has known Vladimir Strelnikov since childhood and is a close friend of his father. But Strelnikov tells him he can't stop now, because he has prepared too carefully for the encounter with the White Brothers and has made too many sacrifices to reach Shambhala. His airline's planes, which are now crashing one after another in Russia, are crashing because he disabled them as a sacrifice to the Bon gods. At the foot of Mount Kailash, a fight ensues between Pogodin and Strelnikov (including the Lama Rinpoche and Miroslav's dog, who ultimately saves his life). Meanwhile, a group led by Major Ivan Zamyatin ("Rose and Cross," "Quiet House") arrives at the salon where Vadim Uspensky works to detain him. Uspensky is arrested for fraud and taken away. A distraught Sveta, also in the salon at the time, realizes she's lost her job and potential husband, but suddenly her phone rings. It's from the office of a deputy, who is very impressed by how Vadim Uspensky's name has become known throughout the country. Sveta has been offered the position of head of this deputy's campaign staff for the next presidential election. As she leaves the salon, Sveta remembers that today, the same Blessed One who was in love with Uspensky had made an appointment with him. In her last letter, she wrote that she had sold her room in a communal apartment and decided it was time to be happy, and to do that, she needed to finally meet her beloved. Sveta realizes that the Blessed One never showed up at the salon. Meanwhile, the news reports that another plane crashed today. In the end, the reader understands that the Blessed One was flying "towards happiness" on this very flight, and that of all the book's characters, she was the one who ended up in Shambhala, as a sort of paradise.

FRAGMENTS
"A thin, sinuous flash of lightning licked the steep-sided clouds above the Catholic cathedral in the center of Moscow – as if the tongue of a predatory reptile had reached out to the man standing on the building's canopy above the entrance. "This man in a white robe raised his arms to the evening sky, trying to shout over the thunder. Behind him loomed the bulk of a Gothic cathedral. It seemed as if the sharp peaks of its towers, reaching skyward, were piercing the loose clouds, releasing moisture from them."

"I realized that one can have any attitude toward esotericism, mysticism, and utopian legends—for example, consider them the product of fantasy and the speculations of sick or healthy people. One can complain as much as one wants about the fact that all this is ephemeral and unprovable. But one cannot deny that these ephemeral, unprovable, seemingly non-existent concepts sometimes exert no less an influence on an individual, and through him, on the course of history, than science, religion, and progress. From this point of view, dubious esoteric teachings are essential and tangible. "After all, they manifest themselves in the decisions and actions of real people, sometimes reaching phenomenal proportions. Take, for example, Hitler…"

"Vadim Sigismundovich somehow inadvertently, one might say accidentally, managed to become a public figure. Out of resentment and indignation, suddenly, in a moment, a daring idea flashed in his head - to show up at the casting of an extremely popular TV show in which people with paranormal abilities measure their strength in order to popularly explain to everyone who they really are. He was sitting then in his one-room apartment on the outskirts of Moscow and moving his jaws as if lifeless, mechanical, chewing the hateful Doshirak, staring at the TV screen with an empty, unblinking gaze."

Publishing Solutions, 2017

Mystical thriller
Psychological drama
Detective
Modern Moscow
A series of murders
Occultism
Tarot
Sect
Love
Artist

Eleonora Pakhomova graduated from the journalism department of Moscow State University and wrote for leading Russian media outlets. The author's first novel "Rose and Cross" became one of the most read on the RuNet in 2015. The author has prepared a detailed synopsis of the series for episodes 8 and 12.

REFERENCES
"Mindhunter", created by Joe Penhall, 2017
True Detective, created by Nic Pizzolatto, directed by Cary Fukunaga, 2014

SHORT SYNOPSIS
Police Major Ivan Zamyatin (a Denis Shvedov type) arrives at a crime scene and discovers that a psychiatry professor, who conducted private psychotherapy sessions for the Moscow elite, has been murdered in his own office in a very unusual way: his throat has been slit, his tongue has been cut out, a pentagram has been carved into his chest, and his legs have been folded into the shape of the number 4. Zamyatin realizes that an expert on the occult must be involved in the investigation, and turns to Miroslav Pogodin (a type somewhere between Alexander Molochnikov and Yuri Chursin).

Miroslav is a rich kid (the son of an oligarch) who, as a result of childhood trauma, embarked on a path of studying the manifestations of evil. He works as a philosophy professor at Moscow State University and drives a Maserati. Pogodin agrees to help the major and soon comes to the conclusion that the symbolism on the professor's corpse refers to the Thoth Tarot cards, a deck invented by Aleister Crowley, the founder of Satanism. And the murderer believes the murdered professor is none other than the Hierophant (one of the major arcana of the Tarot, symbolizing the high priest, a spiritual mentor). Miroslav shares his guess with the major. The major first asks how many court cards there are in the deck. Miroslav replies that there are twenty-two such cards.

Meanwhile, a strange client approaches the fashionable Moscow artist Frida Voloshina (a type of Irina Apeksimova in her youth; Paulina Andreeva would have been a stretch to say the same). An elderly, imposing man, introducing himself as David, asks her to depict twenty-two cards of the Major Arcana of the Thoth Tarot on canvas, offering her a huge amount of money. "Why me?" the artist asks. "Because you are Frida!" replies the client. The first card Frida undertakes to depict is the Hierophant.

According to the plot, the stories of the investigators and the artist initially run parallel. After Frida, at David's direction, draws another court card on canvas, a corpse with the corresponding symbolism is found in Moscow. The investigators are unaware of Frida's existence, and she has no idea that corpses are being found in the capital after her paintings.

As the investigation progresses, Miroslav Pogodin and Ivan Zamyatin uncover more and more details about the activities of secret societies, Satanic sects, and other followers of Aleister Crowley in Moscow. And the artist Frida delves deeper into her own inner world, where selfhood, obsessive love, and emotional pain from the past reign.

Ultimately, the paths of the investigators and the artist cross. The plot twists like a tailspin, and the viewer guesses until the very end who is behind the series of brutal, bloody murders.

FRAGMENTS
"... in the killer's head there are no gnomes and elves, but "Thelema," which means "will." And the cult of sacrifice is quite fitting in his rhetoric. The killer, therefore, does his will, while trying to set some kind of magical mechanism in motion.

We put one and one together: the Hanged Man, that is, the victim, and the Hierophant. The Hierophant was sacrificed? And what is the purpose of the sacrifice? Probably to strengthen the ritual. It seems that a sabbath is planned in Moscow - the major is unlucky."

"For the first time, she felt the scent of his skin, mingling with the tart notes of a barely perceptible perfume, her gaze caught the velvety texture of its texture, ran up his tanned neck, stumbling over the tubercle of his Adam's apple, discerned the stubble appearing on his chin and - eyes, eyes, eyes ... Impossibly beautiful, smiling, glowing. So close that she felt his heart beating. Her gaze lost focus, it seemed to her that she was about to flow down the door to his feet, turning into a hot scarlet puddle."

“A person must believe in something... Something that allows him to feel part of a whole, and not a molecule rushing about in meaningless, chaotic motion. Something that connects him to a community of other people, freeing him from the feeling of rootlessness and helplessness. Something that gives life some higher meaning. Otherwise, what is the point of all this?”

“Frida learned that this was the Grail from the books David gave her during their last meeting, when she gave him the painting with the Hierophant. ... studying the “Lust” card at home, Frida caught herself wanting to know its meaning. “Pacify the Energy with Love; but let Love consume all that exists,” read the first line of the epigraph to the card. In traditional decks, this Arcana is called “Strength” - a woman strokes a roaring lion, demonstrating the predominance of inner strength over outer. But by Crowley's will, "Power" became "Lust."

Esoteric detective. AST, 2018

Nominated for the Livelib Readers' Choice Award

Adventures
For the whole family
Russian Empire
Siberia
Uprising
Service to the Fatherland
Love
Heroism

CHARACTERS
Mikhail Strogoff – 30 years old. Courageous, cold-blooded. Originally from Omsk. Tall, with regular features, blue eyes and thick black hair.
Nadya – 17 years old, of average height, a slender girl with luxurious golden hair.
Ivan Ogarev – a traitor, a former colonel, who was demoted and sent into exile. He always stood out among other officers for his intelligence and ambition. When his participation in a secret society was discovered, he was demoted and exiled to Siberia. Six months later he was pardoned and returned, but he voluntarily went to Siberia, where he decided to stir up an uprising, which was joined by the Bukharans.
Sangarra – a gypsy. A beautiful brunette with regular features and fiery eyes.
Harry Blunt – an Englishman, a correspondent for the Daily Telegraph. Thin, tall, imperturbably phlegmatic; sparing with words and gestures.
Alcide Jolivier – a Frenchman. Thin, tall, very lively with an excellent hearing. He does not name the newspaper he works for, but jokes that he writes to his cousin.
Vasily Fedorov – Nadya's father; a man of about 40, with a tall and sad face, who has spent his whole life in struggle and suffering.

WORLD OF HISTORY
An uprising breaks out among the nomads of the Turkestan region subject to Russia, threatening to engulf all of Siberia. At that time, the governance of the Siberian region is entrusted to two governors-general; one of them lives in Irkutsk, the other in Tobolsk, the main points of Eastern and Western Siberia. They are connected with the European part of Russia by telegraph. At the very beginning of the uprising, the instigators damage the telegraph wire near Tomsk and in the direction of Kolyvan. The only thing the Tsar can do to convey his commands to the eastern outskirts of Siberia is to send a courier there…

SYNOPSIS
Ball in the Grand Kremlin Palace. The Tsar receives a telegram from Tomsk. It reports that there has been no communication with his brother, the Grand Duke, since yesterday. Telegraph service beyond Tomsk is interrupted. The Emperor inquires about the traitor Ivan Ogarev. But there is no news, and the Tsar demands that a secret order be sent to Perm, Yekaterinburg, Kasimov, Tyumen, Omsk, and all telegraph stations with which service has not been interrupted—to search for and find the traitor Ogarev.

Two foreign journalists, the Englishman Harry Blunt and the Frenchman Alcide Jolivier, are present at the ball. They whisper to one another about the day's events—the telegraph wire between the Asian border and Irkutsk damaged by traitors.

The Emperor orders troops to be assembled and sent to the East, but the problem is that they will only encounter the Bukharans face to face in a few weeks, while his brother has no communication with Moscow and is unaware that the traitor Ogarev, whom he does not know by sight, has plotted his life, seeking revenge for his demotion. The traitor hopes to gain the Grand Duke's trust by arriving in Irkutsk under a false name and handing the city over to the Bukharans. To warn his brother of this, the Emperor decides to send a courier.

General Kisov recommends the courier Michael Strogoff for this mission, as he has proven himself an excellent officer. Strogoff is provided with documents in the name of the Irkutsk merchant Nikolai Korpanov and is warned that when passing through Omsk, he must not see his mother under any circumstances, so as not to give himself away.

On June 16th, the courier leaves the capital on a train that is also carrying English and French journalists heading into the thick of things. On the train, Strogoff meets a girl, Nadya, who is traveling alone.

Arriving in Nizhny Novgorod, Strogoff goes to the steamship station to sail from there to Perm. He thinks about the girl from the train, worrying about how she will make such a journey alone and why she needs to go to Irkutsk.

Sitting down to rest near one of the barracks, Strogoff meets gypsies - an old man and a beautiful woman. Their faces remain etched in his memory.

In Nizhny Novgorod, the Tsar's courier is met by an order from the Governor-General prohibiting anyone from leaving the province, and requiring foreigners to leave within 24 hours. All these measures are intended to hinder Ogarev's exit from European Russia. The courier again remembers the girl Nadya, whose chances of reaching Irkutsk are now approaching zero, and wants to help her. He searches for Nadya in the city and offers to go with him under the guise of his sister. They are allowed to board the ship without hindrance, since the documents issued to Korpanov (Strogov) state that he can have 1 or 2 people with him.

They agree to be on a familiar basis and pretend to be brother and sister.

On the ship, Mikhail meets two foreigners, again the journalists Blunt and Jolivier. Their paths cross again. At night, walking along the deck, Strogoff accidentally overhears a conversation between gypsies he already knows. They are discussing that "a courier has already been sent from Moscow..." And he realizes that they are talking about him!

At the Kazan pier, the gypsies leave the ship, just like Strogoff, heading to Ishim, but by a different route.

Nadya tells Nikolai Korpanov (Strogov) that she is going to see her exiled father in Irkutsk. Her father is Doctor Vasily Fedorov. Through the machinations of ill-wishers, his house was searched, during which someone else's books were found, for which he was exiled to a settlement in Irkutsk. His wife died of grief, and Nadya went to her father.

Having arrived in Perm, the only way to continue the journey was by horse. Here the travelers buy a carriage. On the way from Perm to Yekaterinburg, they are pursued by bad weather. One day, caught in a hurricane, they literally have to save themselves. Nadya hears cries for help coming from around a bend in the road – they are foreign correspondents whose carriage is stuck in the mud, the horses have galloped away, and the coachman has given chase, with no one knowing if he will return. Strogoff offers them one of his horses. And since their shared journey leads to Ishim, they decide to continue it together. In a conversation with the Englishman, the Frenchman reveals that the traitor Ogarev, disguised as a gypsy, is, according to his information, already moving from Kazan to Yekaterinburg. These words touch Strogoff, and he recalls the gypsies he encountered.

By nightfall on July 22, the heroes arrive in Tyumen. Word in the city is that Feofar Khan's troops have approached Ishim and that Ivan Ogarev will soon join him. On the way to Ishim, about 30 miles from the city, their carriage comes up alongside another tarantass, from which someone shouts "Stop!" but they don't hear it and, overtaking, continue on. That evening, upon arriving in Ishim, they are greeted with dire news: the Bukharans have approached the city, so the authorities have moved to Tobolsk. Strogoff takes the last three horses at the station, and the heroes prepare to depart. Suddenly, a man appears at the door of the post office, urgently demanding the horses. Having learned from the stationmaster that Strogoff has managed to take the last horses, he demands that they be unharnessed, as he urgently needs them. Strogoff categorically refuses to give up the horses. The enemy strikes Strogoff with a whip and even draws his saber, but Mikhail refuses to fight him (he simply doesn't have the time). Nadya understands that her companion must have very compelling reasons to tolerate such an insult. The foreigners are discouraged.

On July 25, the heroes have already traveled 120 miles from Ishim. At the post station, the stationmaster dissuades them from continuing their journey—Bukharan troops are prowling the steppe, and they could fall right into their hands—but the companions are adamant and continue on. As they cross the Irtysh, their ferry is pursued by Bukharan soldiers in boats. Mikhail is wounded, and Nadya is tied up and dragged into the boat.

Only on the third day does Mikhail come to his senses in a peasant hut, where he was dragged by the peasant who pulled him from the water. Strogoff sets off for Omsk, where the Bukharan warriors are already in full swing. In a part of the city not yet taken by the rebels, in the hope of finding a carriage, Strogoff and his companion, a peasant, navigate the narrow streets. Suddenly, a detachment of Bukharan warriors, led by Ivan Ogarev, rushes past them. Strogoff recognizes him as the traveler with whom they had quarreled over horses at the post station in Ishim, as well as the "gypsy" from the Nizhny Novgorod fair!

Strogov wants to leave the city at night and decides to dine at the post station, where he unexpectedly encounters his mother, who, of course, recognizes him. He pretends the woman is mistaken. The mother understands that Mikhail must have very good reasons for doing this, and she tells the gathered crowd of onlookers that she was indeed mistaken. But it is too late, as she leaves the post station—her way is blocked by Ivan Ogarev himself! "Are you Marfa Strogoff?" Ogarev has already been informed of the scene that unfolded at the station, and suspecting the truth, he interrogates the old woman. She continues to insist that she was mistaken, but Ogarev does not believe her and sends a pursuit after Mikhail, and orders the woman to be sent to Tomsk.

Strogov, who managed to leave the city, has no doubt that a pursuit has been sent after him. He is worried about the fate of his mother and young Nadya.

August 5th. 1500 miles to Irkutsk. Trampled fields and burnt villages and hamlets. Near one of the burnt huts, Strogoff meets an old man. From him he learns that Kolyvan has not yet been taken and is heading there. At night, he hears a group of horsemen approaching. 50 people stop for rest not far from his hiding place. They are Bukharans. Strogoff overhears their conversation. They are talking about him! He learns that his mother is being held captive. When Mikhail tries to leave the shelter, the Bukhara man's horse gives him away. Escaping pursuit, Strogoff fires back and, galloping to the bank of the Ob, plunges into the water with his horse, but it is shot in the side. The courier swims to shore and disappears into the reeds.

Having reached Kolyvan, he is relieved to see that the rebels have not yet taken the city, but a battle is underway. His task is to find the horse. Hiding from a Bukharan detachment, he runs into the first house he comes across. It turns out to be a telegraph office, where he meets the English and French journalists he already knows. Bukharan soldiers burst in. The journalists, and with them Strogoff, are taken prisoner.

The next day, the prisoners are delivered to Feofar Khan's camp. Strogoff behaves meekly and patiently, because he is being led where he needs to go and where he would never have reached in such safety. The only thing he has to fear is Ivan Ogarev.

On the morning of August 12, Ogarev enters the camp. A crowd of gypsies follows him and, of course, that same gypsy woman, Sangarra's devoted one. Ogarev releases the captive foreign journalists. They travel to Tomsk, having bought horses. Ogarev is also in a hurry to Tomsk; Feofar Khan demanded that his headquarters be transferred to this city. This pleases Strogoff very much, since the only danger of the journey for him lay precisely before Tomsk.

Old Marfa Strogoff is also among Ogarev's captives. Sangarra keeps a close eye on her. Nadya constantly cares for the old woman in captivity; fate brings them together and they become inseparable, but the girl does not yet know that the old woman is her friend's mother. Nadya tells her the story of Nikolai Korpanov, thanks to whom she was able to travel such a long way. From the description, Marfa Strogoff understands who Nikolai Korpanov really is.

The detachment of prisoners stretched for several miles along the road. Strogoff walks in front, and the women in the rear. They do not know that they are next to each other.

On August 15, on the bank of the Tom River, there is a rest stop. In the evening, when Marfa Strogoff and Nadya, having waited their turn, approach the river's edge to drink water, Nadya suddenly sees Kopanoff (Strogov). She screams! Strogoff sees her and his mother, but, so as not to give himself away, he quickly turns away and leaves. Marfa pulls Nadya back so as not to reveal her son's secret. But Sangarra witnesses this scene. She did not have time to get a good look at the man, but she clearly saw Marfa Strogoff's face and her reaction to this meeting. She hurries to report to Ogarev that Marfa Strogoff's son is in the camp! Ogarev is excited, because it is vital for him to intercept the Tsar's courier's letter.

The next day, the prisoners are lined up. Marfa Strogoff understands what is about to happen and tells Nadya that, no matter what happens, she must not betray their acquaintance in any way.

They demand that Marfa acknowledge her son, but she refuses. Then Ogarev orders her to be tortured. A whip whistles behind the old woman. Strogoff cannot bear it and gives himself away, jumping out of the crowd and intercepting the blow of the whip. Strogoff hits Ogarev across the face with the whip, cutting it until it bleeds, thereby avenging the blow at the post station. He recognizes him. About 20 men rush at Mikhail, but Ogarev stops them: "This man will be judged by the emir himself." The courier is found with the Tsar's letter. Ogarev rereads it several times and sets off for Tomsk, where the emir awaits the victorious troops.

Ivan Ogarev introduces Marfa Strogoff and Mikhail to Feofar Khan, calling him a "Russian spy." The Emir opens the Koran, points at a line at random that speaks of darkness, and orders the prisoner to be blinded. Eastern beauties dance before the cruel punishment, and Strogoff is ordered to keep his eyes wide open. Foreign journalists witness the events. Understanding what is about to happen to this worthy man, they leave without waiting for the reprisal.

Ogarev's last glance falls on his old mother, who stretches out her hands to him. Heating his Damascus steel saber red-hot, the executioner blinds Mikhail. Ogarev approaches Strogoff, unfolds the Tsar's letter, and holds it to the prisoner's eyes: "Read this now, Mikhail Strogoff! The real Tsar's ambassador is no longer you, but Ivan Ogarev!"

When everyone disperses, having lost interest in Mikhail Strogoff, Nadya helps him to his feet and leads him along. After walking 50 miles, they reach a deserted village. All the inhabitants have fled. In the empty hut, Nadya confesses to Mikhail that she knows who he is and promises to help him reach Irkutsk and fulfill his duty.

Strogov decides to reach Krasnoyarsk, where he counts on the governor's assistance. Along the way, the heroes meet a young peasant, Nikolai Pegasov, who agrees to give them a ride to Krasnoyarsk. Eight days later, upon reaching their destination, they are astonished – Krasnoyarsk is also empty. It turns out the Emperor has ordered both the army and the inhabitants to be evacuated from the city. The travelers decide to continue their journey to Irkutsk together. They need to somehow cross the Yenisei River, but not a single vessel is left anywhere. Finding wineskins containing kumiss, they place them under the cart and launch it. But on the river, the cart gets caught in a whirlpool. Then Strogoff dives in and pulls the cart, horse and all, out of the whirlpool. After resting, they continue on to Irkutsk.

A few days later, the travelers realize that a small Bukharan detachment has passed before them. Their horse stops, unwilling to go any further, seeing a dead man. The further they travel, the more dead bodies they encounter along the road. They must decide whether to go through Nizhneudinsk or bypass it in case the city has been taken by the Tatars. But already at the approach, they see that the city is burning. They decide to turn off, when suddenly a group of Tatar cavalrymen jumps out at them and the heroes are captured again. From snatches of conversation between the Bukharans, he learns that the army of Feofar and Ogarev is to unite near Irkutsk.

The Tatars mock Strogoff and even give him a blind horse to test whether he is faking it. The horse is injured, and Strogoff is tied behind another horse and forced to walk.

On September 11, they reach the village of Chebarlinskoye. That night, the soldiers get drunk and one of them insults Nadya. Nikolai sees this, snatches the offender's pistol and shoots him point-blank. They want to kill Nikolai, but an officer intervenes, so they tie him up, throw him across a horse and take him away. The rope with which Strogoff was tied to the horse breaks. The rider does not notice this, and Mikhail and Nadya find themselves free and completely alone.

The two of them continue their journey to Irkutsk across the endless steppe. Despite Nadya's fatigue, Mikhail is in a great hurry. Feofar Khan's detachment, heading for Irkutsk, may catch up with them at any moment. Strogoff tells Nadya that he must reach Irkutsk before Ivan Ogarev at all costs. Reaching the river, they hear a human cry and a dog barking off to the side of the road. Они находят Николая, зарытого по горло в землю. Николай открывает глаза и, простившись с друзьями, умирает. Михаил хочет по-человечески похоронить друга и роет могилу. В это время по дороге проносится отряд Феофар хана. Михаил и Надя теперь не могут идти по дороге, а идут через степь.

12 дней спустя герои выходят к озеру Байкал. Им остается 3 дня пути, когда на берегу они видят группу русских людей, которые, спасаясь от татар, ищут спасения в Иркутске. Строгов выдает себя за мещанина. Вечером вся группа грузится на паром и отправляется по Ангаре вниз по течению. Когда плоту требуется остановка на ремонт, паром причаливает к берегу маленького городка. Им навстречу с берега бросаются иностранные журналисты Блэнт и Жоливье, так и не сумевшие добраться до Иркутска. На пароме Надя подзывает их к Михаилу, и он просит обоих хранить тайну его личности.

Ночью температура опускается ниже нуля. Они плывут среди льдин тихо, не разговаривая, пытаясь согреться, кто как может. По берегам они то и дело видят то лесной пожар, то догоравшие деревушки… Лежа на краю парома Жоливье опускает руку в воду и понимает, что рука выпачкана в нефти. Слой нефти плывет вместе с течением Ангары в Иркутск. Они понимают, что татары хотят поджечь город! Иностранцы решают умолчать об увиденном, чтобы не пугать и без того перепуганных женщин и детей.

Вдруг они видят тени, которые по льдинам прыгают в сторону парома. Это волки, решившие напасть на людей. Начинается битва, волков оказываются десятки, но вдруг, зарево от громадного пожарища освещает плот и всю реку. Горит большое село на берегу. Там бесчинствуют татары. Волки, испугавшись зарева, отступают. Беглецы, опасаясь выдать себя, тихо проплывают мимо. Только журналисты понимают, какой опасности они подвержены, если ветер вдруг подует в сторону реки. Останавливаться и пережидать нельзя, потому что, если река замерзнет или их зажмет льдинами – утром паром обнаружат бухарцы.

Паром замечают, с берега начинают стрелять. Надя и Михаил сходят на лед и тихо по льдинам скрываются в темноте. Большая льдина отрывается, и они уплывают на ней вдвоем.

Тем временем, в изолированном от всего света Иркутске Великий князь приказывает укрепить город, чтобы он мог вынести осаду. Он не знает, что главный советник варваров – русский офицер Иван Огарёв, разжалованный им в солдаты, хоть и не знакомый лично. Всем жителям губернии приказано переселиться в Иркутск. Хлеб и припасы тоже перевезены в город.

25 сентября татарские колонны подходят к Иркутску, соединяются и начинают осаду. Эмир дважды безуспешно пробует захватить город. Политические ссыльные тоже помогают героически защищать Иркутск. Тогда Огарёв решает прибегнуть к хитрости, проникнуть в город, добраться до князя, войти к нему в доверие и открыть ворота для неприятеля.

Ссыльные, участвующие в обороне Иркутска, обращаются к Великому князю с прошением составить из них отдельный корпус, чтобы дозволить им быть впереди всех при первой вылазке. Князь соглашается, командиром отряда назначают Василия Федорова – отца Нади. Губернатор провозглашает, что защитники больше не ссыльные!

Великому князю докладывают о прибытии царского курьера. Входит Огарёв и представляется Михаилом Строговым. Он подает князю письмо, разорванное на маленькие кусочки (объясняет это интересами сохранности письма). Князь уверен в подлинности курьера. Огарёв преувеличивает победы татар над русскими и численность татарского войска, а также говорит, что помощь к Иркутску не придет. Князь благодарит Огарёва за службу и оставляет его жить во дворце. Предатель распространяет пораженческие настроения в войсках.

5 октября Огарёв сбрасывает из окна записку Сангарре. По его плану Иркутск должен быть предан и сдан в руки Эмира на следующий день.

Вечером, когда Великий князь вызывает к себе «Строгова» - ему сообщают, что курьера нет во дворце. Огарёв перелезает через окно и выходит на террасу, откуда он бросает зажженную паклю в Ангарскую воду. Нефть, разлитая по Ангаре по приказу Огарева, вспыхивает. Пожар разливается по реке с одной стороны города, а еще с двух сторон на Иркутск наступают татарские войска. Когда жители бросаются тушить пожар - большие ворота остаётся охранять лишь небольшой отряд из ссыльных.

Огарёв возвращается в свою комнату и видит женщину. Приняв ее за Сангарру, он ошибается. Это – Надя! Она и Строгов таки добрались до города вплавь. «Иван Огарёв!» закричала она, понимая, что это имя привлечет всеобщее внимание. «Иван Огарёв!» Он бросается на нее с кинжалом, но в эту минуту чья-то мощная рука хватает его за шиворот и отбрасывает в сторону. Это – Михаил Строгов. Всё оружие Михаила – маленький нож. Огарёв пытается нанести удар слепому, за ним другой – но от обоих тот уворачивается. «Он видит!» - кричит Огарев. «Да! Я вижу!» отвечает Строгов и поражает врага в самое сердце.

Через минуту в комнату входит Князь и видит труп того, кого считал царским курьером. Строгов говорит, что мёртвый человек – это предатель и изменник Иван Огарёв.

Строгов не ослеп. Когда его ослепляли – он смотрел на мать и слезы хлынули из глаз. При контакте с железом они превратились в пары, а пары охладили жар - как плавильщик, намочив руку в воде, погружает её в металл. Строгов решил уверить всех в своей слепоте, даже Надю. Только мать знала, что он видит. Тогда на площади, когда Огарёв поднес к его «слепым» глазам царское письмо – Строгов прочел его и узнал о разоблачавшихся в нем подлых замыслах изменника – теперь он знал, что угрожает князю, Иркутску и всей Сибири.

Надя, Строгов и Василий Федоров объединяются. Отряд татар разгромлен. Сангарра убита.

7 октября на помощь Иркутску приходит русская армия! С ними в Иркутск приезжают и старые друзья Строгова – журналисты Блэнт и Жоливье. Узнав, что Михаил не ослеп – их радость огромна. Русские войска разбивают татарское войско, отбив все захваченные города. Строгов делает предложение Наде, она соглашается. На венчании присутствует Великий князь, куча военных и статских, а также журналисты Блэнт и Жоливе. В качестве супружеской пары Строговы и отец Нади отправляются в обратный путь в европейскую Россию. По пути они останавливаются на один день в том месте, где похоронен их друг Николай. Там они устанавливают крест.

В Омске их встречает Марфа Строгова. После нескольких дней у матери, они отправляются в Петербург, откуда больше не выезжают никуда, кроме как в Омск навещать мать. Император назначает Михаила своим личным адъютантом и жалует ему Георгиевский крест. В последствии Строгов достигает высоких чинов и видных государственных мест.

CHARACTERS
Vitya Perestukin - a fourth-grade student; a poor student, lazy; kind, but irresponsible.
Kuzya - Vitya's cat; can talk in the Land of Unlearned Lessons; Grumbling, cowardly, but devoted to his friend.
Zoya Filippovna is Vitya's teacher; strict, but fair and caring.

PLOT
The story is told from the perspective of fourth-grader Vitya Perestukin, who doesn't want to study well. Vitya returns home from school sad: he had five lessons that day and got a bad grade in each one. Vitya considers one of them undeserved: he was asked to talk about the water cycle in nature and when asked where water evaporates under the influence of the sun, Vitya answered that it disappears. At home, while doing his homework, he tries to solve a problem about navvies and ends up getting a strange (but not for him) answer: one and a half navvies. Vitya neglects the rest of the assignments and, finally, in a rage and shouting, "Go to hell! I'm fed up!", he throws his textbooks on the floor. Suddenly, the textbooks come to life and decide to send the boy to the Land of Unlearned Lessons; one of the books, a geography textbook, warns Vitya that he can call on it for help when things get really tough. Suddenly, Vitya's pet cat, Kuzya, who suddenly started talking like a human, expresses a desire to go with him. Vitya is given a soccer ball as a guide: he must go only in the direction the ball is rolling. After this, Vitya and Kuzya feel something lifting them into the air and quickly carrying them somewhere into the distance.

Following the ball, which acted as a guide, Vitya and his cat Kuzya find themselves in front of a gate. To open it, they need to correctly write two words: "key" and "lock"; Vitya struggles to recall a grammar rule—the only thing he knew for sure—and manages to master it, finding himself in a castle hidden behind the gates. There, Vitya encounters King Verb, the Comma, and two signs—the Interrogative and the Exclamation. Having assessed Vitya's knowledge of Russian grammar extremely negatively, the Imperative Verb, who served as the sovereign in this kingdom, presents him with a task involving the placement of commas, which determines the travelers' future fate.

After liberation, the comrades liberate the forest and save many animals from the evil old Drought, summoning rain by correctly formulating the concept of the water cycle. Next, they correctly solve arithmetic problems after seeing the consequences of solving them incorrectly—an innocently imprisoned tailor; a "half" of a navvy whose only remaining legs are those of a willful walker, constantly trying to kick Kuzya the cat; a cyclist forced to travel at a speed unachievable by a cyclist because of Perestukin's incorrect solution; and a brother and sister who, conversely, were supposed to be walking toward each other 60 years apart. Then Perestukin encounters historical figures—boyars from the time of Ivan the Terrible and Tsarevich Feodor, who nearly falls out of favor with the Tsar due to the unexpected outbreak of war with Napoleon. But he manages to remember that this war is supposed to begin in more than two centuries; the attack ceases on its own, and the enemy disappears. In the end, they explain to the "carnivorous" cow that she is a herbivore and that nature forbids her from being interested in cats. They meet a kangaroo-bird, as the boy declared her to be, and then—with the help of a textbook—they send the polar bear, suffering from the heat, and the Chukchi boy back to the Far North, and the monkey and the black boy to Africa.

After this, the hero and his cat (who has forgotten how to speak human language) are transported home, finding their geography textbook on the doorstep, once again transformed into an inanimate book. With this, the adventures in the Land of Unlearned Lessons end, and Viktor Perestukin finally understands the role of education in a person's life and begins to put effort into his studies, successfully passing the exams that previously terrified him with the prospect of repeating a year and moving on to the fifth grade.

The InterGpol series ("Cora", "InterGalactic Police") consists of eight works, which are science fiction detectives. The action takes place at the end of the 21st - beginning of the 22nd century.

The main characters are Cora Horvat and Commissioner Milodar. Cora was raised in a boarding school for unusual foundlings, which is called Children's Island. This is a special place where all the children found in space are gathered. Some of them have a bizarre, extraterrestrial appearance, while others are no different from earthlings. Some have their own special abilities. None of them know their parents (but, of course, they really want to know). Life on the island is like life in a regular boarding school, except they can't leave. But Commissioner Milodar, who oversaw the boarding school, recruits Cora to work for InterGPol. Now she is an agent and is engaged in solving mysteries and unraveling crimes.

The InterGPol cycle includes eight works:
"Children's Island"
A breakout from Children's Island, a special shelter for space foundlings, took place overnight. Two young people in love have disappeared from the island. The escape is successful. Prince Wolfgang, a psychopath and tyrant who planned and carried out this escape-abduction, is waiting for them on the spaceship "Sanssouci". Interpol is on the trail.

"Halfway Off the Cliff"
Somewhere in Crimea there is a transition point to parallel worlds. And this world is also called Earth, then ours is Earth-2! And this world is (or is!?) lagging behind in social development, when the planet's population lacks the most common everyday things and products. Interpol agent Cora was given the task of infiltrating this world and finding out everything: who, what, why, how they plan to use this transition and who is the genius who opened the window to another world.

"Attempt on Theseus"
Interpol Commissioner Milodar first brings Cora Horvat to watch a very strange football match, and then gives her a new task. She is to become a bodyguard for Prince Gustav, heir to the throne from the kingdom of Ragoza, located on a remote and underdeveloped planet. All the hopes of the Ragosian population for development and social progress are pinned on Gustav. Currently studying on Earth at Moscow University, he will soon face a difficult test: a so-called VR cruise. Such cruises are fully immersive in virtual reality and can pose a real danger to life.
First, Cora will have to visit Gustav's home planet and try to discover what forces there are interested in his death. Then, following her protégé (and secretly from him), she will plunge into virtual reality and find herself in Ancient Greece. Because the prince has chosen the role and life path of the mythological hero Theseus, the slayer of the Minotaur...

"In Chicken Skin"
Interpol Inspector Cora Horvat is sent to the small planet Dil-li to investigate the murder of an archaeologist, the respected Professor Gallieni, a native of the planet Xero. An assassination attempt has been made on Cora, and she must conduct her investigation in the body of the professor's widow, a huge, fat hen who is preparing to become a mother...

"The Foreteller of the Past"
On the planet New Helvetia, its legitimate ruler, Eguadius II, has been assassinated. Power has been seized by Duagim, the emperor's nephew, a monster who hates everything earthly. There are 240 earthlings on New Helvetia who are in danger of dying. Only one independent detective can be sent to the planet, and his chances of outwitting Duagim are negligible. In short, the case is just right for Cora Orvat...

"The Last Dragons"
In the state of Lyondor on the planet Southern Pedanta, Dragons are a symbol of the state; they are bred and protected, and once a year, on the Day of Greatness, they are released to fly freely over the capital. Cora Horvat is invited to investigate the mysterious disappearances of these enormous animals, as the state has been prophesied that when the last dragon leaves the Corral, Liondor will perish...

"The Disappearance of Professor Lu Fu"
The great scientist Lu Fu, Nobel Prize winner and inventor of the gravity engine, suddenly disappeared from his home in the most remote place on Earth. In recent years, he lived in seclusion and cultivated his own garden. Who could need a genius and for what purposes was he kidnapped? This is what Cora Horvat, an Interpol agent, must figure out.

"The Mirror of Evil"
What to do if Earth is chosen as the site of a "civil war" between humanoids? And what if, during this war, symbols of power that are extremely important to the aliens—the ring, the crown, and the mirror—are lost? And what if the war wasn't just the other day, or even last year, but oh, how long ago?
All that's left is to use technological progress and search, search, search... Even in the past. Even in someone else's.

Romantic Tale
Magic
Love
Transformation
Princess
Bear

CHARACTERS
Master - a wizard who got married, settled down and took up housekeeping, but still reaches for miracles. A bearded man of enormous stature, broad-shouldered, the owner of an estate in the Carpathian Mountains. He is passionately in love with his wife.
Mistress - the wizard's wife, still young, a very attractive woman. She reproaches her husband for his foolish magic, but takes a philosophical approach to it.
The Bear is an enchanted youth: a wizard turned him from a bear into a man. The bear lived in human form for seven years, then came to the wizard to have him turn him back, but while visiting him, he met a princess and fell in love with her.
The Princess is the king's daughter, a very kind and nice girl. From early childhood, she was not at all like a king's daughter: "you come to the nursery - and suddenly, it's embarrassing to say, you become cute."
The King is the wizard's guest and the princess's father. Along with the family jewels, he inherited all the vile family traits from his relatives.
The Minister-Administrator is a man with a business acumen and no moral principles. "He is the only one of us who knows how to travel. He knows how to get horses at the post station, get a carriage, feed us. True, he does all this poorly, but we can’t do anything like that at all. Don’t tell him that I complained, otherwise he will leave me without sweets."
Emilia - the first lady of the knighthood, the beauty and pride of the royal retinue.
Emil (the Innkeeper) - a small, quick, slender man, graceful in his movements. The owner of the mountain tavern "Emilia". In his youth, he was in love with the lady-in-waiting Emilia, but left her; He met her when she came to him as part of the royal retinue in search of a runaway princess.
The Hunter - a famous hunter who stayed at the Emilia tavern and dreamed of killing the hundredth bear in his career.
The Hunter's Apprentice - the hunter's assistant and his "whipping boy". He constantly suffers the hunter's displeasure: "that's why I keep apprentices, so that my abuse will hurt at least someone."
The Father-Steward - the innkeeper's neighbor, living a five-hour drive away and able to communicate using telepathy. He is the most curious monk in the world. He knows everything that is happening for a hundred miles around.
The First Minister - was a majestic person at court: "experts claimed that it was difficult to understand who holds himself more important and dignified - me or the royal cats." On the way from the kingdom, he changed a lot.
Amanda - the princess's maid of honor. She stopped believing in love because of an unfortunate experience and after that fell in love with everyone. She married a hunter.
Orinthia - the princess's maid of honor. She forgot how to tell the truth about love: "it's so scary and so difficult. I say about love what is expected of me." She married a hunter's apprentice.

An estate in the Carpathian Mountains. Here, having married and decided to settle down and take care of the household, a certain wizard settled. He is in love with his wife and promises her to live "like everyone else," but his soul longs for something magical, and the owner of the estate cannot resist "pranks." Now the Hostess suspects that her husband is up to new miracles. It turns out that some rather unusual guests are about to arrive at the house.

The first to appear is a young man. When the Hostess asks his name, he replies: Bear. The wizard, informing his wife that it is because of the young man that these amazing events will begin, confesses: seven years ago, he turned a young bear he met in the forest into a man. The Hostess hates it when "animals are tortured for their own amusement" and begs her husband to turn the young man into a bear again and set him free. It turns out that this is possible, but only if some princess falls in love with the young man and kisses him. The Hostess feels sorry for the unknown girl; she is frightened by the dangerous game her husband has started.

Meanwhile, the sound of a trumpet is heard, announcing the arrival of new guests. A passing King suddenly wanted to turn into the estate. The owner warns them that they are about to encounter a rude and unruly man. However, the King, upon entering, is initially polite and courteous. True, he soon admits that he is a despot, vindictive, and capricious. But twelve generations of ancestors are to blame for this ("all monsters, one after another!"); because of them, he, a kind and intelligent man by nature, sometimes does such things that make you cry!

After an unsuccessful attempt to treat his hosts with poisoned wine, the King, blaming his late uncle for his mischief, explains that the Princess, his daughter, has not inherited the family's villainous tendencies; she is kind and even softens his own cruel nature. The host escorts the guest to the rooms designated for him.

The Princess enters the house and bumps into the Bear at the door. An immediate liking emerges between the young people. The Princess is not accustomed to simple and cordial treatment; she enjoys talking to the Bear.

Trumpets are heard—the royal retinue is approaching. The young man and woman run off, holding hands. "Well, here comes the hurricane, love has come!" says the Hostess, who has overheard their conversation.

The courtiers appear. All of them: the First Minister, the First Dame, and the ladies-in-waiting are terrified to the point of trembling by the Minister-Administrator, who, although he knows how to please the King in everything, has completely subjugated him and keeps his retinue in a state of darkness. The Administrator enters, consulting his notebook and calculating his income. Winking at the Mistress, he abruptly sets up a date with her, but upon learning that her husband is a wizard and can turn him into a rat, he apologizes and takes out his anger on the courtiers who have appeared. Meanwhile, the King and the Mistress enter the room, followed by the Princess and the Bear. Noticing the joy on his daughter's face, the King realizes it is due to a new acquaintance. He is ready to grant the young man a title and take him along on a journey. The Princess admits that the young man has become her best friend, and she is ready to kiss him. But, realizing who she is, the Bear flees in horror and despair. The Princess is at a loss. She leaves the room. The King plans to execute the courtiers if none of them can give him advice on how to help the Princess. The executioner is ready. Suddenly the door swings open, and the Princess appears on the threshold, dressed as a man, with a sword and pistols. She orders the horse to be saddled, bids farewell to her father, and disappears. The sound of a horse's hooves is heard. The King rushes after him, ordering his retinue to follow him. "Well, are you satisfied?" the Hostess asks her husband. "Very!" he replies.

On a stormy winter evening, the owner of the Emilia tavern sadly recalls the girl he once loved and after whom he named his establishment. He still dreams of meeting her. There is a knock at the door. The innkeeper lets in snow-covered travelers—the King and his retinue, searching for his daughter.

Meanwhile, the Princess is in this house. Disguised as a boy, she became an apprentice to a hunter who lived there.

While the Innkeeper is settling his guests in for a rest, the Bear appears. A little later, he meets the Princess, but doesn't recognize her in her men's clothing. He explains that he ran away from love for a girl who looks very much like his new acquaintance and, he believes, is also in love with him. The Princess ridicules the Bear. An argument ensues, culminating in a sword fight. Lunging, the young man knocks his opponent's hat off—his braids fall, and the masquerade is over. The girl is offended by the Bear and is ready to die rather than prove to him that she cares about him. The Bear wants to flee again, but the house is covered in snow up to the roof, making it impossible to leave.

Meanwhile, the Innkeeper discovers that the First Lady in Arms is his lost Emilia. An explanation and reconciliation take place. The King is happy that his daughter has been found, but seeing her sad, he demands that one of his courtiers go and console her. The lot falls to the Administrator, who is terrified that the Princess will simply shoot him. However, he returns alive and with unexpected news: the king's daughter has decided to marry him! The enraged Bear immediately proposes to two maids of honor. The Princess appears in a wedding dress: the wedding is in an hour! The young man asks permission to speak with her alone and reveals his secret: by the will of the wizard, he will turn into a bear as soon as he kisses her—that is the reason for his flight. The Princess leaves in despair.

Suddenly music is heard, the windows open, revealing not snow, but blooming meadows. The cheerful Innkeeper bursts in, but his joy quickly fades: the expected miracle has not happened. "How dare you not kiss her?!" he asks the Bear. "You did not love the girl!"

The Innkeeper leaves. Snow falls outside again. Utterly depressed, the Bear turns to the hunter who has entered and asks if he has any desire to kill the hundredth bear (he boasted that he had killed 99 bears), for he will still find the Princess, kiss her and turn into a beast. After some hesitation, the hunter agrees to take advantage of the young man's "kindness."

A year has passed. The Innkeeper has married his beloved Emilia. The Bear has disappeared into thin air: the wizard's spell prevents him from reaching the Princess. The girl, because of unrequited love, has fallen ill and is about to die. All the courtiers are deeply saddened. Only the Administrator, although his wedding never took place, has become even richer and more insolent, and he does not believe in death from love.

The Princess wishes to say goodbye to her friends and asks them to brighten her last moments. Among those present are the Master and Mistress. Footsteps are heard in the depths of the garden—the Bear has finally made it here! The Princess is delighted and admits that she loves and forgives him; even if he turns into a bear, so long as he doesn't leave. She embraces and kisses the young man. ("Glory to the brave who dare to love, knowing that all this will come to an end," the wizard said a little earlier.) A clap of thunder rings out, darkness reigns for a moment, then light flashes, and everyone sees that the Bear has remained human. The wizard is delighted: a miracle has happened! Overjoyed, he transforms the annoying Administrator into a rat and is ready to perform new miracles, "so as not to burst from excess strength."

Sci-Fi
Thriller
Detective
Zombie
Epidemic
Post-Apocalypse
Zombie Apocalypse
Investigation

WORLD OF HISTORY
The action takes place in Moscow of the near future. Ten years before the main events, an inexplicable phenomenon occurred all over the planet: one day, people began to suddenly die, and all those who died from that date and a little earlier began to revive some time after death. The revived people were called the rebels: they were unreasoning predators who, apart from the feeling of hunger, had no other instincts. The rebels were one and a half to two times stronger than a normal human, possessed faster reaction speeds, and could only be destroyed by decapitating them or completely destroying their body. After the first death, the body's cells were completely restructured, and the body functioned completely differently. The apocalypse that followed killed more than six billion people. The rebels sooner or later return to intelligent life, becoming "quazi." At the time of the main events, there are approximately six billion rebels on the planet, approximately one billion humans, and over one hundred million quazi. The protagonist, capital case investigator Denis Simonov, is forced, along with a quazi police officer, to investigate the death of a professor developing a dangerous virus.

PLOT
Capital case investigator Denis Simonov responds to a call to the apartment of Professor Viktor Tomilin, finds him and another man rebelling after death, and instead of arresting them, kills them both. A quazi also appears in the apartment and manages to escape. At the station, Denis is reprimanded for the high percentage of deaths and is assigned Mikhail Ivanovich Bedrents, the same quazi who escaped, as his partner. He is working on the murder of a professor on assignment from the quazi Representative in St. Petersburg. The police go to the work of the professor's wife, Victoria, where it is revealed that she hired a man to kill her husband so that he could ascend to power and become a quazi. Victoria is detained but manages to escape. It turns out that Mikhail has a ten-year-old adopted son, Naid, whom he found as a baby during his ascension. Denis and Mikhail go to the professor's apartment, where forensic expert Anastasia Deeva is already working, and encounter state security agents led by Captain Vladislav Markin, who have also become interested in the crime.

The Lazarus of Bethany shelter for the rebels is located beneath the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. Victoria seizes the orphanage, but Denis and Mikhail, who arrive on the scene, realize she was after the orphanage's lab. Victoria manages to escape. It's Naid's birthday. Denis and Anastasia, who were invited, realize Mikhail is trying to bring them together. Mikhail also tells Denis that Naid could be his son, whom Denis lost along with his wife in the early days of the rebels' emergence. Searching for Victoria, the police visit the Kvazi church and the postmortem psychology center. Victoria had been there before. Denis learns of a virus that can kill all adults on the planet. There is also a virus against Kvazi. Victoria meets Simonov in the building's entrance, tells him she's on the side of the humans, asks him not to trust Mikhail, and disappears. Victoria meets with Simonov and Markin. He says he'll give up the virus if the "black mold," the virus against quasi, is destroyed.

At the Paleontological Institute, they learn that Viktor created and used the virus, and Victoria tried to dissuade him, now trying to create a vaccine against it. Denis learns that to ascend, he must eat a living human brain. Genetic analysis reveals that Naid is Denis's son. Tomilin hid the virus somewhere, and a search begins. Tomilin led a science club. One of the schoolchildren who attended, Ruslan, reveals that the professor was a radical supporter of quasi. A riot breaks out at a nursing home. Arriving there, Denis realizes that Victoria organized the riot to distract them from searching for the members of the science club. The virus was hidden in one of the clubs. It turns out that Victoria took Ruslan to an abandoned hospital. The incubation period ended and the boy fell ill, so Victoria now has the virus. She asks Denis to take her beyond the Moscow Ring Road, blackmailing him with the hostage Nide. Denis manages to outwit Victoria and kill her as they leave the Moscow Ring Road. Mikhail confirms Denis's hunch that he came to Moscow for the virus. Having received it, Kvazi leaves. Nide remains with Denis, who agrees to transfer to work for state security.


The novel has a sequel, titled "Kainozoy," set in St. Petersburg.

"Kainozoy"
Denis Simonov (the hero of the first book), who has become a major and transferred from the police to state security, together with his son Naid (now named Alexander), at the request of his former partner, quasi-investigator Mikhail Bedrents, nicknamed "Drany Lis," and his superior, Colonel Markin, leaves for St. Petersburg. On the train, under mysterious circumstances, an entire carload of submarine cadets perishes and, almost simultaneously, revolts. The car is quickly isolated from the rest of the train, but Denis has to eliminate one aggressive rebel. This incident is considered a flagrant violation for St. Petersburg, as it violates the rights of rebels (potential quasi). It later turns out that in St. Petersburg, some intelligent quasi were caught in aggressive and irrational behavior characteristic of rebels. Some of these quazi even bit or ate their victims (the quazi themselves do not eat meat or animal products). Denis Simonov, his old friend Mikhail, and his son Alexander were to find out who was responsible for the death of an entire train car of young sailors and what caused such a strange and dangerous reaction in the quazi.

Mysticism
A Deal with the Devil
Talent
Love
Writer
Art
Lucifer

The novel is set in London in the 1890s, but could be set, for example, in 19th-century St. Petersburg.

REFERENCES
"The Devil's Advocate", directed by T. Hackford, 1997.

CHARACTERS
Geoffrey Tempest – about 30 years old. A talented but poverty-stricken young writer.
Lucio Rimanetz – a prince, patron of the arts, mysterious, witty, handsome and infinitely wealthy philanthropist. Satan in human form.
Sybil Elton – about 20 years old. The daughter of an impoverished aristocrat, whose goal is to marry a rich man and help her father cope with his debts. Callous, cold, brought up on contemporary novels filled with vulgarity and dirt.
Mavis Claire – about 20 years old. A popular writer, author of many novels. Like Geoffrey Tempest, she went through poverty. Sweet, sincere, open and pure at soul.

SYNOPSIS
In London, the young writer Geoffrey Tempest languishes in poverty. After being fired from his post as a critic for a London literary magazine, he is unable to find any stable employment and is forced to starve. Publishers refuse to publish his novel, "about the noblest men and loftiest aspirations," because, they say, modern readers demand more piquant material. Tempest is deeply in debt to his landlady for his room and, in desperation, writes a letter to his university friend, who has left for Australia, asking for help.

One evening, returning to his squalid dwelling, the hero finds three letters on the table. The first is a reply from Australia: a friend has sent Geoffrey 50 pounds and also promised him the help of a wealthy philanthropist, Prince Lucio Rimanez. The second letter informs him that a distant relative of his, who was very wealthy but childless, has died, and that Geoffrey will inherit his millions. The third letter was from Lucio Rimanets, the prince announced his imminent visit.

That same evening, Rimanets arrives to see Geoffrey Tempest. The prince immediately warns the writer that he is not who he seems and recommends staying away from him. But Geoffrey does not listen to the advice and strikes up a friendship with Lucio.

Expecting to receive a huge inheritance, the prince immediately gives Geoffrey a large sum for current expenses. Geoffrey buys new clothes, moves in with the prince, and decides to use the money to fulfill his cherished dream of publishing his novel and becoming a famous writer. He pays for the publication and widespread advertising of his novel.

Prince Lucio becomes a close friend of Geoffrey and introduces him to high society, where he introduces him to the ruined Lord Elton and his daughter Sybil. The lord invites them to dinner.

One day, the prince tells Geoffrey the legend of Lucifer, the Son of the Dawn. It says that the Angel Lucifer was displeased with the fact that God created people in his own image, for only angels can resemble God. Lucifer swore to destroy people, but God punished him by sending him to earth to tempt them. The souls that succumb to temptation prolong his punishment on earth, and those who are saved shorten it, but Lucifer will return to heaven only when he is "rejected by the whole world." For now, he wanders among people and mourns the loss of heaven. The prince believes that Lucifer's suffering will last forever.

One day, Lucio invites Geoffrey to a gambling club where high society gamblers gather. There, the writer meets a young man who loses a large sum to him at cards. Lucio offers the aristocrat, who has lost, a chance to win back his losses by jokingly wagering such a trifle as his soul. The young man loses to him too. After leaving the club, the young man shoots himself. Geoffrey takes this tragedy extremely hard, blaming himself for it, but the prince calms him and asks him not to attract attention so as not to compromise the club members.

Waking in the middle of the night, Geoffrey sees three black figures in cloaks and hoods in his room, who are saying: "Woe." Horrified, he tries to drive them away, but falls unconscious.

Geoffrey begins to suspect that the prince has some kind of secret and notes some of his oddities. Lucio is a cynic, but this does not prevent him from believing in the existence of the soul and God, and he also hates women, believing that they destroy men's souls. Sometimes Geoffrey feels that the prince is very powerful and ancient.

Tempest buys Lord Elton's estate, as advised by Lucio. He spends more time in the company of Sybil, and she tells Geoffrey about a wonderful writer, Mavis Claire, who lives next door. She is young and very talented and writes wonderful novels. Geoffrey doesn't believe her, as he is convinced that women are created "to please men, not to instruct them." However, he buys one of Mavis's novels and, after reading it, realizes that she is more talented than he is. Although her books are criticized by critics, they sell in huge numbers, and Geoffrey's novel is advertised in magazines for money. He himself, having received a fortune, has lost his talent. Tormented by envy, in despair, he writes a scathing review of Mavis's book and publishes it anonymously, but the prince somehow finds out about it.

Lucio convinces Geoffrey to marry Sybil. The girl agrees, but before announcing her engagement, she admits that she has been corrupted by modern depraved literature, is incapable of love, and considers marriage a bargain, and that the beauty of her body does not hide an equally beautiful soul. But Geoffrey does not believe her; he convinces Sybil of his love and desire to marry.

Before the wedding, Geoffrey and Lucio meet Mavis Claire. They visit her cozy home. The writer's always calm dog unexpectedly greets the prince aggressively. Mavis amazes Geoffrey with her naturalness and directness. She is not at all offended by the criticism. She knows that Geoffrey also criticized her book, but treats it with irony. Even the misogynist Lucio likes Mavis.

Geoffrey and Sybil's wedding goes flawlessly; Lucio Rimanetz took charge of organizing the celebration. The newlyweds go on a honeymoon to Europe. But Geoffrey is disappointed with his wife - she is depraved and vicious. Upon returning to England, he introduces her to Mavis Claire, hoping she will somehow influence his wife. Sybil pretends to be the writer's friend, but in her heart she hates her, as "a worthless woman can hate an innocent maiden," and tells her husband so.

Temple's attitude toward his wife becomes consumerist, he uses her like a concubine. Moreover, he stops writing altogether. Lucio comes to visit the estate. One day, Geoffrey overhears the prince tempting Mavis: he offers her power, wealth, fame, a noble husband, and great love, but Mavis refuses. Then Lucio kneels before her and asks her to pray for him, promising not to persecute her again.

That night, not finding Sybil in her bedroom, Geoffrey goes to look for her and sees a terrible scene. Sybil confesses her love to Prince Lucio Rimanez and assures him that she married Geoffrey only to be closer to the prince. She begs him to love her at least for one night. But the prince rejects her—he despises Sybil's beauty, seeing her depraved soul beneath it. Their conversation is interrupted by Geoffrey. He thanks his friend for his fidelity, and his anger falls upon his unfaithful wife, but Sybil feels no guilt, as she warned Geoffrey even before the wedding.

Lucio tries to dissuade his friend from divorce and persuades him to go on a journey. Geoffrey agrees, but on the day of their departure, Sybil takes her own life. She leaves a suicide note in which she describes her life, the story of her corruption, and her love for Lucio. Before she dies, Sybil sees the ghost of her mother and understands that life continues after death. And there, someone terrible awaits her—she recognizes him, but does not have time to write his name.

After the funeral, Geoffrey meets with Mavis Claire and gives her his wife's suicide letter to read. The girl immediately guesses whose name Sybil didn't have time to write. But Geoffrey doesn't take this seriously. He goes with the prince on a trip along the Nile on Lucio's luxurious yacht. But his attitude towards his friend changes dramatically. Geoffrey begins to feel an instinctive disgust and fear towards Lucio. One day, when they witness the opening of an ancient tomb, Geoffrey is horrified by the appearance of a mummy, which is the spitting image of Sybil. Soon, the ghosts of the dead begin to appear to him, especially his wife. In despair, he decides to commit suicide. At that moment, Lucio comes to him, but does not try to stop him, but calls himself his enemy. Having peered into his friend's face, Geoffrey loses consciousness.

He comes to in a dark cabin. A storm rages outside the window. The prince enters the cabin. He no longer hides his true nature; he is Lucifer. It was from him that Geoffrey received his wealth. The writer could have benefited people and saved his soul, but he became selfish, an atheist, rejected his God-given talent, and destroyed himself. Lucifer chose him to learn a lesson and teach others. The prince takes Geoffrey onto the deck and offers him a choice: whom he wishes to serve, him or God. Geoffrey chooses to serve God. Then an angel descends from heaven and announces that Lucifer has been granted "one hour of joy." The prince ascends to heaven on flaming wings, and the yacht begins to sink. A voice from heaven commands that Geoffrey be bound and thrown into the ocean. From there, tied to the mast, he is rescued by the crew of an English ship.

Rescued, Geoffrey learns that the lawyers handling his estate have stolen his entire fortune. But he has no intention of returning the wealth received from Lucifer, and instead rents a modest apartment and begins to write. His first novel is a huge success, selling out. Mavis Claire congratulates the writer and invites him to her house, but he realizes he's not worthy of her. One night, he remembers his trip to Egypt with the prince, and he feels uneasy. To calm himself, Geoffrey goes out for a walk. On the street, he bumps into Prince Lucio Rimanetz but passes by silently. Looking back, Geoffrey sees the prince meeting with a minister, and together they enter the British Empire Government building.

REFERENCES
"The Count of Monte Cristo", dir. Alexandre de La Patellière, Mathieu Delaporte, 2024
"Pirates of the Caribbean", dir. G. Verbinski, 2003

MAIN CHARACTERS:
Archibald Hunter - a young man of 28 years old, tall, strong, "of a robust build and athleticism."
Gormala McNeil - clairvoyant. A tall, thin old woman, imperious, impressive in appearance, with large eyes and an aquiline nose. 
Anita Marjorie - an American, heiress to a large fortune. A young girl, independent and courageous, with a lively, intelligent face, tall, slender and unusually beautiful.
Mrs. Jack - Anita's companion, her former nanny. A stocky, thin, short old woman of a timid disposition.
Don Bernardino is a Spanish nobleman, a descendant of an ancient family – with a proud bearing, tall, slender, with a high, aquiline nose, with expressive black eyes, a true Spanish grandee.

SYNOPSIS
Archibald Hunter, a young lawyer, 28 years old, with a small fortune, but allowing him to travel the world, fascinated by the harsh northern nature, settles on the shore of the bay in the fishing village of Winnifold. Gloomy nature with harsh rocky landscapes, night tides near the reefs, an ancient castle with secret passages - here the hero has a mysterious encounter with a strange old woman named Gormala McNeil, who calls herself a clairvoyant. From her, he unexpectedly learns that he himself possesses a mystical ability to foresee certain events—the "Gift of Second Sight." As if to confirm her words, Hunter experiences several supernatural events and visions. For example, he saw a ghostly procession ascending a steep path from the depths of the sea and slowly, silently, into St. Olaf's Well, considered sacred by the local population. These were the ghosts of those who had drowned in these waters over the years, from shaggy savages clad in skins to warriors of the Great Armada.

Gormala tells him of a Mystery of the Sea, connected with enormous treasures and a "golden husband" lying on the seabed, and that his gift was given to him for a reason, perhaps precisely to unravel this Mystery of the Sea.

At high tide, admiring the raging sea, Hunter notices two women in dire straits on a rocky island, on a reef about to be overwhelmed by the waves, a young girl and a thin old woman. He comes to their aid just in time and saves Marjorie Anita, a girl who is also surrounded by a mystery, and her companion from certain death. The girl is extraordinarily beautiful, and Hunter is completely captivated by her. They continue to get to know each other and soon fall in love. Hunter proposes to Anita, and she accepts.

Hunter doesn't know who he saved, and Marjorie hasn't revealed much about herself, but his friends inform him that the girl is a wealthy American who is being pursued by a gang of kidnappers hoping to receive a hefty ransom for her, something Marjorie herself doesn't yet know. Furthermore, the girl has intervened in politics, specifically Cuba's struggle for independence from Spain. The heiress of a huge fortune, she bought and donated a battleship to the American government, whose crew is ready to go through fire and water for her, so she is under special US protection.

Archibalt Hunter initiates his beloved into the Mystery of the Sea, and together they try to unravel it. Not long before, Hunter accidentally buys an antique wooden chest at a local auction, in which he discovers several ancient sheets of paper with encrypted text. He and Marjorie solve the code, and having solved it, they unexpectedly receive the key to the Mystery, which is that in the depths of the sea caves there is a huge ancient Spanish treasure, hidden more than 300 years ago, i.e., in the 16th century, when Spain was at war with England. The papers from the chest contained a letter from the Spanish grandee, Knight of the Cross of the Holy See Bernardino de Escopano, instructing his descendants to preserve the treasure and fulfill the Order of His Holiness Pope Sixtus V - to hand over the treasure to the Spanish king for the fight against England.

The Great Armada transporting the treasure was defeated, and then Bernardino de Escopano, who was on one of the ships, hid the treasure in an underwater cave with many passages and dead ends, near a cape in the bay of the Aberdeen coast, and to disguise the cave, he blew up the entrance.

According to the description in the letter, Hunter finds the entrance to the cave. Archibald and Marjorie begin the search for this treasure together. They manage, having cut a passage, to get into a deep, dark cave in which salt water was about knee-deep. Hunter carefully explores the cave system, risking being buried, bumping into boulders, and making his way through narrow passages. Thoroughly prepared, Hunter and Marjorie venture into the cave's darkness, where numerous branches branch off, passing through rooms where, at high tide, the water rises almost to the ceiling. Finally, they enter a cave where, standing waist-deep in water, they discover several rusty boxes at the bottom, containing money, and in one of the boxes, boxes of precious stones. Opening one of the boxes, they discover magnificent rubies. An entire corner of the cave is filled with ingots. Overcome with excitement, Archie and Marjorie lose track of time and are startled to notice that the tide has begun to rise and the cave is filling with water. They are overcome with terror, unable to imagine how high the water can rise. Just in case, they create a mound of ingots—and just in time, the water rose and finally reached their chins. Embracing, they say goodbye to each other, but suddenly discover that the water no longer rises, and then begins to subside. Utterly exhausted but happy, they finally, grabbing the box of rubies, emerge from the caves where they spent more than 12 hours.

Rested and refreshed, they prepare to descend into the caves again and retrieve the treasure in full. But it turns out that this treasure is also sought by the noble Spaniard Don Bernardino, fulfilling a commission once bequeathed to his family. He knows the history of the treasure, as his distant ancestors had connections to hidden treasures. Don Bernardino is the heir to an ancient castle rented for Marjorie and Mrs. Jack, where he hopes to find a manuscript, and thus a trace of the hidden treasure.

Arriving at the castle, where he has, as he says, "one thing to do," he sees a manuscript on the table and realizes that the couple has uncovered the secret. The dispute between Hunter and the Spaniard about who should own the treasure is postponed while the treasure still rests at the bottom of the cave and has yet to be retrieved.

Meanwhile, the gang is hunting for Marjorie, unaware of the treasure. The bandits achieve their goal: they kidnap the girl, and at the same time, the box with rubies. Moreover, they tracked down Hunter and Marjorie and got to the treasure in the cave. The interests of Archibald Hunter and Bernardino de Escopan are intertwined: firstly, both want to save the girl from the hands of the bandits, and in this the Spaniard, as a truly noble man and gentleman, comes to Hunter's aid; Secondly, they want to return the treasure.

Meanwhile, the bandits, having made an agreement with the smugglers, are trying to evade pursuit by sea and take away the stolen treasure and the captive. But thanks to the clairvoyant Gormala and his mystical Gift of Second Sight, Hunter manages to spot a whaling ship in the stormy sea, in whose cabin Anita Marjorie is held captive, and where the bandits are going to load the treasure. The sea is shrouded in continuous fog, making the ship almost impossible to detect.

Hunter makes an agreement with his friends, American naval officers, that he will swim to the whaling ship and signal the American ship Keystone and the yacht. Despite the storm, Hunter reaches his destination. In a fight with the bandits guarding Anita, he frees his wife and signals his own. A Spaniard who has swum to his aid appears next to him. The bandits are busy urgently transferring treasure from the boat to the deck and do not immediately notice the strangers, only discovering them when Hunter signals his men.

A fight and gunfire ensues, while the ship, with no one in control, rushes toward the rocks and eventually crashes on the reefs. Hunter manages to grab Marjorie, overcoming the furious gusts of waves with his last strength, and get ashore. They are saved. Having reached home, rested and regained their strength, despite the storm, they gather the inhabitants of the village and try to find those on the shore who were also lucky enough to escape. But only the next day, when the storm has subsided, they find the body of Don Bernardino opposite the entrance to the very cave where his ancestor hid the treasure.

His body was returned to Spain and buried next to his ancestors. And the golden figure of Saint Cristobal, which adorned the bow of one of the ships of the Great Armada, was installed on the grave of the Spaniard in the Church of Saint Cristobal in distant Castile.

Science Fiction
Discovery
Moscow
1920s
Science
Disease
Apocalypse
Survival
Experiments
USSR
Intrigue

PLOT
The action takes place in the USSR in the summer of 1928. Vladimir Ipatyevich Persikov, professor of zoology at the IV State University and director of the Moscow Zoological Institute, completely unexpectedly makes a scientific discovery of enormous importance: in the eyepiece of a microscope, with a random movement of the mirror and lens, he sees an extraordinary ray - “the ray of life”, as the professor’s assistant, Privatdozent Petr Stepanovich Ivanov, later calls it. Under the influence of this beam, ordinary amoebas behave in the strangest way: they reproduce furiously, overturning all the laws of natural science; the newly born amoebas furiously attack each other, tearing each other to shreds and swallowing them; the best and the strongest win, and these best are terrible: twice the size of ordinary specimens and, moreover, distinguished by some special malice and agility. Using a system of lenses and mirrors, Privatdozent Ivanov constructs several chambers in which he receives the same, but more powerful, beam, magnified outside a microscope, and the scientists conduct experiments with frog eggs. Within two days, thousands of tadpoles hatch from the eggs, growing in a day into such vicious and voracious frogs that one half immediately devours the other, and the survivors, within two days, without any beam, produce a new, completely countless offspring. Rumors of Professor Persikov's experiments leak to the press.

At the same time, a strange, unknown to science, chicken disease breaks out in the country: infected with this disease, a chicken dies within a few hours. Professor Persikov joins the emergency commission to combat the chicken plague. Nevertheless, within two weeks, every single chicken in the Soviet Union has died out.

Alexander Semyonovich Rokk, recently appointed head of the Krasny Luch demonstration state farm, appears in Professor Persikov's office with a "paper from the Kremlin" inviting the professor to place the chambers he has designed at his disposal "to improve poultry farming in the country." The professor cautions Rokk, saying that the properties of the ray have not yet been sufficiently studied, but Rokk is absolutely confident that everything will be fine and he will quickly hatch beautiful chickens. Rokk's men take away three large chambers, leaving the professor with his first, small chamber.

Professor Persikov orders tropical eggs from abroad for his experiments—anacondas, pythons, ostriches, and crocodiles. Meanwhile, Rokk orders chicken eggs from abroad to revive chicken farming. Then something terrible happens: the orders get mixed up, and a parcel containing snake, crocodile, and ostrich eggs arrives at the Smolensk state farm. Unsuspectingly, Rokk places the unusually large and strange-looking eggs in the chambers, and immediately all the frogs in the vicinity of the state farm fall silent, all the birds, including sparrows, up and fly away, and dogs in a neighboring village begin to howl mournfully. A few days later, crocodiles and snakes begin to hatch from the eggs. One of the snakes, which has grown to an incredible size by evening, attacks Rocco's wife, Manya, who becomes the first victim of this monstrous misunderstanding. Rocc, who witnessed this tragedy, suddenly turns gray and reports to the GPU headquarters. He recounts the monstrous incident at the state farm, but the GPU agents dismiss his story as a hallucination. However, upon arriving at the state farm, they are horrified to see a huge number of giant snakes, as well as crocodiles and ostriches. Both GPU agents are killed.

Terrible events are unfolding in the country: artillery shells the Mozhaisk forest, destroying crocodile egg deposits, battles with ostrich flocks rage in the vicinity of Mozhaisk, and vast hordes of reptiles approach Moscow from the west, southwest, and south. The human toll is incalculable. The evacuation of Moscow begins, the city is full of refugees from the Smolensk province, and martial law is declared in the capital. Poor Professor Persikov dies at the hands of an enraged mob, who blame him for all the misfortunes that have befallen the country.

On the night of August 19th-20th, an unexpected and unheard-of frost, reaching -18 degrees Celsius, lasts for two days and saves the capital from a terrible invasion. Forests, fields, and swamps are littered with multicolored eggs, covered in strange patterns, but now completely harmless: the frost has killed the embryos. Countless corpses of crocodiles, snakes, and ostriches of incredible size rot across vast expanses of land. However, by the spring of 1929, the army put everything in order, cleared the forests and fields, and burned the corpses.

The whole world continues to talk and write about the extraordinary ray and the catastrophe for a long time, however, no one has been able to obtain the magic ray again, not excluding Privatdozent Ivanov.

Melodrama
Tragicomedy
Province
1920s
Love
Cosmography
Music
Star

Literary basis for the 1978 film of the same name, directed by Mikhail Kozakov.

A mini-series is possible. The events may be modernized (the action may take place in modern Serbia or the historical part of Kaliningrad).

CHARACTERS
Marin Miroyu - a modest cosmography teacher at a provincial town high school. Passionate about science, he is sure that he has discovered a new star.
Mona - a sophisticated, spoiled, slightly naive beautiful girl, a socialite.
Grieg - Mona's lover. Rich, cynical, self-confident.
Mr. Udrya - a music teacher, a friend of Marin. He wrote a symphony, for the performance of which one instrument is missing, without which he does not want to perform it.
Mademoiselle Kuku - a strict class mistress, Marin's colleague.
Mr. Ispas - the station master.

PLOT
Romania, 1920s. In a provincial town where passersby greet everyone they meet, and residents attach exaggerated importance to what their neighbors think of them, an extraordinary event occurs - a diesel-electric train, the Bucharest-Sinaia express, which usually passes through here without stopping, stops late in the evening at the train station. The express was stopped by the train conductor to let off a ticketless passenger named Mona, who is traveling to Bucharest. She is dressed in a luxurious dress and hat, and has nothing in her pockets except casino chips.

By a twist of fate, at the same time at the station she meets Marin Miroiu, a cosmography teacher at the local gymnasium. He came to pick up a rare book that had been delivered to him - Marin believes he has discovered a new star, and so, for the enormous sum of 22,000 lei, he purchased a rare catalog to prove the primacy of his discovery.

The teacher offers the stranger a place to stay overnight in his house, a bachelor's haven, while he himself plans to spend the night with his friend, the music teacher Udri. She agrees. However, left alone with him, Mona becomes convinced that this seemingly ordinary teacher is an interesting person, and she looks for an excuse not to let Marin go. Mona learns Marin's secret - he tells her about a star he has discovered that is not included in any star catalog. They are both happy together on this starry night.

Meanwhile, Mona is sought out by her rich lover, Grieg, who finds her in the squalid teacher's house. Mona expresses a desire to stay there forever. Marin believes that after the events of the previous night, he, as an honest man, is obliged to marry Mona. However, Grieg, with his cold, cynical arguments, convinces the spoiled and capricious Mona that she has no place in the provinces, as the "wife" of a poor teacher. They leave the town together.

Marin is left alone with the truth he has learned from his astronomical observations: "Not a single star deviates from its path."

Drama
Young adult
School
Music
First love
Childhood
Growing up
Jazz

The legendary plot, based on which the film of the same name was shot in 1974, directed by Dinara Asanova.

REFERENCES
"Obsession" directed by Damien Chazelle, 2013.

CHARACTERS
Seva Mukhin (Fly) - the main character, a schoolboy, is fond of music, dreams of becoming a drummer, in love with Ira Fedorova.
Ira Fedorova - Mukha's beautiful classmate, also likes him.
Leva Bulkin (Baton) - Mukha's friend and classmate.
Kapa Tararukhina - classmate, in love with Mukha.
Tatyana Petrovna - teacher and homeroom teacher.
Andrey Mukhin - Seva's older brother, a famous basketball player.
Stepan Stepanovich - a hairdresser nicknamed Stakan Stakanych, the Mukhins' neighbor.
Classmates.

PLOT
Eighth-grader Seva Mukhin, nicknamed Mukha, is interested in music and is learning to play the drums. He watches, mesmerized, from behind the glass, a jazz band rehearsal at a local club and wants to join the band too. But so far, his music has earned him criticism from his older brother, Andrey, a basketball player, and his neighbor, Stakan Stakanych, a hairdresser who tries to scrap his drums in Seva's absence.

Seva also likes a girl in their class, the beautiful Ira Fyodorova. They are friends, but their relationship is far from ideal: they quarrel and then make up. Seva is also jealous of Ira's relationship with a certain Valery, whom she says knows everything, even "where a grasshopper's ears are."

During the summer holidays, Seva manages to gather like-minded people and form a musical group. Then he goes to summer camp. Meanwhile, Ira visits their classmate Bulkin (Baton) and tells him she's leaving because her military father is being transferred to Murmansk. Ira touchingly informs Mukha of this in a letter, after which he walks to the city train station, where, realizing he's late, he runs after the train carrying Ira.

Marcello Mastroianni — Vasily Tyurin, 36 years old. Unlike Mastroianni, he did not make an acting career, although he had and has every reason to.

Sophia Loren — Raisa Ivanovna, 33 years old, a real fighter, a loyal comrade, never minces her words. She has never been married, because, unlike the rest of the female population, she never wanted to get married.

Mastroianni's son is Lukin, young, promising, and full of potential. That is, he has everything in the future and nothing in the present.

Teresa, Mastroianni's son's beloved, is Alla, 24 years old, talented but stupid. Oddly enough, talent and stupidity go together. Sometimes...

Dubbing director is Evgenia Borisovna Tikhomirova, about fifty years old, a woman of the strictest principles, brimming with moral principles, she fights for moral purity, which does not prevent her from remaining a decent person.

Assistant director is Svetlana Nikolskaya, 30 years old, very beautiful. This is her advantage, this is her disadvantage. This is her strength, this is her weakness. This is what attracts her, this is what repels her.

The author of the Russian text of the Italian-French film is Balakina, any age, smart, cynical, knits better than she writes.

FUTURE VIEWERS OF THE DUBBED FILM:

Usachev Alexander Yegorovich - he is almost forty. He loves Svetlana and his work abroad very much. He loves his work more.

Vitaly - 35 years old, mysterious, but simple, rude, but nice.


SYNOPSIS

Act One.
Scenery One.

The Italian-French film "Love Italian Style," starring Marcello Mastroianni and Sophia Loren, is being dubbed in the recording studio.

Director Tikhomirova and her assistant, Svetlana, are supervising the dubbing process. Actors Alla and Lukin voice the dialogue between Mastroianni's son and his lover, Teresa, while quietly discussing the problem of Alla and her family moving to a new apartment in a new building. Suddenly, Tikhomirova interrupts the rehearsal. She is not satisfied with the Italian text: morally, it is unsuitable for our audience. The Russian lyricist, the completely unflappable Balakina, who knits a sweater throughout the entire scene, instantly offers new variations at the director's request, which ultimately transform the dramatic scene into a comedy.

The actor Tyurin, who dubs for Mastroianni, is expected from Leningrad to dub the next scene. The situation is complicated by the fact that the assistant director, Svetlana, is Tyurin's ex-wife. Raisa, dubbing for Sophia Loren, appears with her arm in a sling. It turns out she was hit by a car. The actress is accompanied by Vitaly, the driver of the car. He does not leave her side for a moment; he seems enchanted by Raisa, who constantly emphasizes that she is against marriage, although not against men.

Tyurin, who has arrived, greets everyone present like an old acquaintance. He sees Svetlana. They look at each other silently. Tikhomirova is wary, and Raisa is waiting with poorly concealed interest for events to unfold. Balakina is indifferently knitting a sweater and a new Russian text, as Tikhomirova puts it. Alla is trying to call someone about exchanging her apartment. These worries of hers run through the entire action of the play in the background.

Tyurin's face becomes cold and distant. He takes an effort to meet Svetlana.

The dubbing begins, everything goes well, but upon listening, it turns out that nothing was recorded because they forgot to turn on the equipment.

Scene Two.

A few hours later, Raisa and Svetlana leave the film studio. Raisa is met by Vitaly. He has a car and is ready to drive her everywhere. Svetlana is tasked with getting Tyurin into a hotel; complications arise, and Svetlana invites him to her place, to their former apartment. They haven't seen each other for four years since their divorce. Tyurin announces that he got married and has two children, a boy and a girl, and Svetlana explains that she and her husband have a Zhiguli car and a dacha. They live in two apartments, but are considering a three-room co-op apartment in the future. Interestingly, she suggests that Tyurin arrive not immediately, but in an hour and a half.

Scene Three.

Svetlana hurriedly brings men's clothes from her neighbor into her one-room apartment, even a winter coat and skis. Tyurin appears. Svetlana announces that her husband is at a banquet and will be staying in another apartment later. Tyurin looks around, critically assessing the changes in the apartment. Svetlana feeds Tyurin scrambled eggs, just as she once did. Tyurin tells her he's preparing a new concert composition and recites Mikhail Svetlov's poems from it.

Without any transition, he accuses Svetlana of leaving him not because she fell in love with Usachev, but because he took her to Italy, where she could do a lot of shopping, thus marrying Italy. They bicker. Svetlana pretends to go to her husband's other apartment and hides in her neighbor's. Tyurin is unaware of Svetlana's maneuver. In a great mood, he turns on the music and starts dancing. Suddenly, the doorbell rings. Tyurin thinks it's Svetlana returning and greets her from behind the door. Usachev is speechless at the sound of a man's voice outside the door. He enters the apartment, sees Tyurin and the men's clothes scattered throughout the apartment, and examines the skis. Tyurin invites him to go skiing. The rivals bicker sarcastically. Usachev leaves.

Scene Four.

Morning in Svetlana's apartment. She returns from the neighbor's. She pretends to have come from her husband's to feed Tyurin breakfast, almost letting it slip several times. Both pretend to call, she to her husband (actually Raisa), he to his wife (actually Tikhomirova).

Scene Five.

At the entrance to the film studio, Tyurin and Svetlana meet Usachev, who asks Svetlana to return to him. He is offered to go to Australia as a sales representative, and he invites Svetlana to go with him, promising her mountains of gold there. She announces that she has made peace with Tyurin, who has already brought his things, even skis. Usachev recalls that he even invited him to go skiing. Svetlana leaves.

Back to the studio. Alla develops the topic of moving, now with Balakina. Tyurin explains himself to Tikhomirova and admits that he has neither a wife nor children.

In the midst of explanations, Raisa appears and reports that she was robbed, the groceries and things she left in Vitaly's car were stolen, the car is also missing. Raisa does not know the Volga's license plate number or Vitaly's last name. After a bit of worry, everyone gets back to work. Suddenly, the mysterious Vitaly appears, laden with Raisa's missing things. It turns out that he had to leave urgently for work. He is not married, has no children, but has a red pass, with which he freely enters the studio.

Tikhomirova once again demands that Balakina rewrite the text. During the break, Raisa and Tyurin make music. Tyurin is clearly performing a romance to Blok's poem "About valor, about exploits, about glory..." for Svetlana. Tikhomirova enters the studio and notices Tyurin and Svetlana looking at each other. Out of friendly sympathy for Tyurin, Tikhomirova tenderly tries to warn him: "Vasya, you are kind, honest, you are a talented artist! Why do you need this overdressed thing?" But Vasya likes the overdressed thing and does not want to give it up.

The dubbing continues. A dialogue between Mastroianni and Sophia Loren, an argument about the fidelity of husbands and wives. Tikhomirov is again not satisfied with the text.

Quote: "Balakina (tiredly). Nitpicking again? In my opinion, this scene could be performed at a children's matinee.

Tikhomirova. So, does this mean that Italy is riddled with immorality?

Balakina. It's not my way, it's their way.

Tikhomirova. I won't allow Italy to be discredited. Redo the text so that not all husbands cheat on their wives, and not all wives cheat on their husbands!

Balakina. No problem! ”

Act Two.
Scenery Six.

Vitaly drops Raisa off at the film studio and begins to declare his love, but suddenly looks at his watch, gasps, and quickly disappears, baffling Raisa.

The dubbing is underway in the studio. Tyurin and Lukin are dubbing Mastroianni and his son, the son is rudely arguing with his father. Tikhomirova is again dissatisfied with the text – a bad example for our sons. Balakina responds traditionally: no problem, goes out into the hall, and continues knitting. While the scene is being rewritten, Lukin runs to the acting department to see if there are any requests for him; everyone needs extra income.

Svetlana invites Tyurin to her home for her birthday. Tyurin is still playing the role of a married man, but he declines, not wanting to see a rival. Svetlana assures him that Usachev won't be there; he's busy with work. The dubbing continues, with Tyurin voicing Mastroianni's monologue. After the recording, they decide to listen to it. Suddenly, a completely different text is heard. A conversation between Tyurin and Tikhomirova was accidentally recorded, during which he admitted that he has neither a wife nor children. Everyone is stunned. Svetlana is overjoyed. Tikhomirova is upset because, knowing Svetlana, she understands that this woman will not make him happy.

And so it happened. Tyurin and Raisa go to a cafe, on the way out they meet Usachev, who pesters Tyurin with a request to give up Svetlana to him. He has been offered a job in Australia, he wants to go there with Svetlana, who does not agree to go, and wants to stay with Tyurin.

Scene Seven

Svetlana's apartment, she is greeting guests. Raisa and Vitaly, who brought her, appear on the landing. Vitaly proposes to her and again, glancing at his watch, suddenly runs off. Raisa and Svetlana express their views on marriage. The phone rings, Usachev appears with a basket of flowers, Svetlana does not invite him. He takes his leave, but reminds her that he is waiting for her consent to leave for Australia. Alla appears, reporting the next stage of the fight against resettlement to new buildings. The phone rings and Tyurin appears with a pile of expensive groceries. Svetlana and Tyurin retreat to the kitchen, kiss, and dream of being alone. Raisa understands the situation, but then Vitaly appears with champagne and cake, eager for the celebration to continue, inviting everyone to dance, then picking up a guitar and singing the famous song about the Chuysky Tract and Kolka Snegiryov. Finally, they leave with sweets to go.

Scene Eight

Svetlana's apartment a few days later. Tyurin and Svetlana are preparing for renovations. They discuss Svetlana's divorce from Usachev. Svetlana complains about her life with Usachev in Italy.

Quote: Svetlana: How we saved up for everything there! Do you think I've been to Venice? I've never been anywhere... I once ran to the Vatican Museum to look at the Sistine Chapel... He gave me such a chapel... The entrance ticket costs five hundred lire...

The phone rings, it's Usachev. Svetlana makes an appointment with him at the studio to discuss the divorce.

Raisa and Vitaly appear. Finally, the situation with his hasty disappearances becomes clear - it turns out he is the personal driver of a big boss.

Everyone heads to the studio. Usachev is waiting for Svetlana at the entrance. Tyurin leaves Svetlana with him, counting on them going to the divorce. But Usachev persuades her to go to Australia, painting the most tempting prospects for her: outfits, trips, money. He knows what will tempt her; he rightly notes that he and Svetlana are birds of a feather. Tikhomirova and Raisa have understood this for a long time now. He warns Svetlana that they need to submit their passports for processing on the 16th. Svetlana is at a loss.

Scene Nine.

The recording studio three days later. The last day of dubbing. The sixteenth.

In the studio are Tikhomirova, Tyurin, Svetlana, Raisa, Lukin, Balakina. They decide to celebrate the completion of the work.

Quote: Lukin. I also have a celebration. I was approved for the role of a mute slave. Imagine, I am in the frame the whole time, next to the main character, but I don’t utter a single word. But there is room for facial expressions.

Alla runs in, filled with triumph: she was given an apartment in the center. Svetlana is nervous, literally can’t find a place for herself. Tyurin is invited to continue the voice-over. Tikhomirova is finally satisfied with the text. The phone rings. Svetlana picks up; it's Usachev calling; he's waiting for her. Svetlana quietly tells Raisa that she thinks she's leaving for Australia. Raisa announces that she loves Vitaly and is marrying him. With these words, Svetlana leaves for Usachev, saying that she loves Vasily. Tyurin tries to stop her, but realizes it's futile. When Tikhomirova asks where she went after work, Tyurin replies that she went to Australia. Tikhomirova sympathizes with Tyurin, and Balakina comes to an unexpected conclusion: it ended well, but why does Vasily Sergeyevich need such a wife? Such a wife is a misfortune. He needs to pull himself together and forget about her. And he utters his favorite phrase: no problem! The voice-over continues. In the text they are dubbing, the heroine, tormented by her relatives' nagging, threatens to move with her husband to the middle of nowhere... to Australia...

Tikhomirova orders Balakina to sort this all out and send them somewhere else. Balakina promises to send them somewhere far away.

Svetlana runs through the hall into the studio. Everyone turns to look at her. A pause. Svetlana, it turns out, forgot her purse, grabs her purse from the table and runs out again.

Balakina says: The end! And no problem!

End of the play.

Detective
Comedy
Mysticism
Murder
Investigation
Ghosts

REFERENCES
"Look for the Woman", dir. Alla Surikova, 1982
"Knives Out", dir. Rian Johnson, 2019
"The Canterville Ghost", Valentina Broomberg, 1970

CHARACTERS BIBLE
Georgy Borisovich Yachmenev is a worthy colleague of such detectives as Sherlock Holmes, Maigret and Poirot. He gives the impression of being slow and even lazy. He has the enormous hands of a worker, the graying and thinning hair of a scientist, and the trusting eyes of a collective farmer. For nineteen years, Georgy Borisovich has been successfully purging the ranks of society of undesirable elements. His only weakness is a fear of the dark, blood, and the dead.
Yachmenev's assistants: Ivan Shalyto - short and plump, Zinovy ​​Fomin - tall and skinny. They could not boast of depth of mind or keen intelligence, but they more than made up for these shortcomings with their zeal for service.
Anton Varlamov - a junior research fellow, a young man with the appearance of a movie hero from a trendy intellectual film. Ugly but charming, big-lipped but thin-legged, stooped but athletic, positive but negative. He has a small, intelligent face like a thoroughbred monkey.
Nadezhda Dmitrievna – the commandant, a sinister old woman with a noble past, strong build, with a jutting chin that spoke of a decisive character. Yachmenev especially disliked the old woman's mustache.
Rostovsky Kirill Petrovich – the chief custodian of the library, a tall, gray-haired man dressed in an impeccable dark suit, a white shirt, and a bow tie. The elegance of his clothes contrasts with his unshaven face.
Maria Nikitichna Zubareva – the widow of the murdered man, a faded woman with meek brown eyes, dressed entirely in foreign clothes.
Alla Georgievna – a teacher of Russian language and literature, Anton Varlamov's passion, a beauty.


SYNOPSIS
At midnight, the telephone rang in the room of investigator Georgy Borisovich Yachmenev. An unfamiliar voice announced that the famous academician Sergei Ivanovich Zubarev, who had recently written a monograph on Ivan the Terrible, had just been murdered in the library. When the sleepy investigator asked who committed the murder and for what reason, a stunning answer followed: firstly, Zubarev was killed for his lack of principles, and secondly, he was killed by a ghost!

The puzzled investigator assumes that he is being played, but at 4 a.m. his subordinate confirms the news, and Yachmenev begins the investigation.

He has his own special method: paradoxically, Yachmenev did not look for the guilty. He always tried to ensure the innocence of those suspected of a crime. When he found all the innocent, the guilty revealed themselves. He has two assistants: Zinovy ​​Fomin and Ivan Shalyto, who are not known for their depth of mind and intelligence, but more than make up for these shortcomings with their zeal for work. Unlike Yachmenev, Fomin suspected everyone. In the absence of other, smarter personnel, Yachmenev did his best to cultivate Ivan and Zinovy ​​as worthy replacements.

It all started like in a respectable crime novel. He went to the kitchen and made coffee. Coffee is the national drink of investigators, it gives them energy and sets the mood for a detective story. Then Yachmenev went out into the dark street, where, of course, it was pouring rain, it was pitch black.

He arrives at the crime scene in the library, where the expert, the photographer and the doctor are already there. The assistant reports that the criminals left a lot of traces: gold-framed glasses; a lady's cameo brooch; A man's handkerchief stained with women's lipstick; a ticket for today's express train Moscow-Kuibyshev, carriage number six, seat thirteen, the bottom; and a string bag with groceries. It contains a bottle of kefir and three hundred and ninety grams of sausage. And another mysterious detail - a manuscript, torn to shreds!

The expert determined that Zubarev was killed by a blow to the head with a blunt instrument. No fingerprints were found on the telephone receiver. There was no robbery, the motive for the murder is unclear. Yachmenev orders his assistant to restore the manuscript.

He begins the investigation with a conversation with the rather ironic commandant Maria Dmitrievna, who found the body. The old mansion that housed the library once belonged to her father. Yachmenev, just in case, asked the old lady if ghosts had ever lived here. Having received a sarcastic negative answer, he goes to the scene of the murder.

It would be hard to find a more ideal place to commit a crime. Table lamps created a semi-darkness conducive to murder. From the labyrinth formed by the bookshelves, a predator could sneak up on its intended victim. A thick, soft carpet muffled the sound of a falling body.

The library walls were decorated with antique engravings of St. Petersburg, a portrait of Catherine the Great by an unknown 18th-century artist, a watercolor by Kuzmin from the illustrations to "Eugene Onegin," and a copy of Repin's painting "Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan."

Yachmenev begins to get acquainted with the employees who were in the library on the night of the murder, trying to determine who owned the items found there. The first to enter was Anton Varlamov, a junior research fellow. Yachmenev glanced lazily at Anton, and a realization struck him: the handkerchief with lipstick stains belonged to Anton. He and Zubarev had a nasty relationship, holding opposing views on science. Anton accused Zubarev of being unscrupulous. Furthermore, they both liked the same woman—the beautiful Alla Grigoryevna, a literature teacher writing a dissertation, and Sergei Ivanovich was her supervisor. But Yachmenev's intuition told him Anton wasn't the killer.

The investigator's conversation with Anton was overheard by his assistant, Fomin, who was sitting in one of the bookcases during the conversation and couldn't leave because someone had locked him in. Since the room was empty, the situation was puzzling.

Next was the widow, Maria Nikitichna Zubareva. She was the owner of the next piece of evidence—a foreign-made string bag containing kefir and sausage, which the hungry investigator coveted while destroying the evidence. Maria Nikitichna, jealous of her husband, suspected he was not alone in the library, so she came for him and found him murdered.

Released from the closet, locked in by an unknown person, Fomin retreats to the restroom. When the door closes behind him, a vase falls from the closet, literally millimeters from Yachmenev's head. It is unclear who threw it. Another mystery alarms the detectives; they examine every corner, suspecting a secret passage, but there is none.

In the restroom, Fomin finds his next suspect: Kirill Petrovich Rostovsky, the library's chief curator. It suddenly turns out that it was he who wrote Zubarev's scientific papers, and Zubarev, as an experienced opportunist, gave him the right direction. Zinovy ​​Fomin immediately concludes that Rostovsky is the murderer and begins to follow him.

Yachmenev does not interfere. He himself decides to get acquainted with the beautiful teacher. He attends literature class, during which he listens with some bewilderment to the essay topics the teacher suggests to the students: "Why is Onegin unworthy of Tatyana?" and "What would have happened to the novel Eugene Onegin if it had not included the image of Tatyana?" Alla Grigoryevna reports that the absurd topics were sent from Shkolono, but suggested by Academician Zubarev himself.

Returning to the library, Yachmenev sees that the manuscript has been torn up again. He guesses that someone needs to destroy the manuscript about Ivan the Terrible! They're doing this a second time... Why are they tearing it up instead of taking it with them? Georgy Borisovich senses in his heart that none of the academy's employees are capable of committing a criminal offense. He knew from experience that innocent people are always caught off guard at the scene of a crime, and criminals don't go there. They have no business there.

The investigator collects the scraps of the manuscript, and at that moment, in the library, where no one else was, a distinct, quiet, but ominous sound is heard: hee-hee-hee! Yachmenev, horrified, begins to suspect mysticism.

He dismisses his assistants. First, he sends Zinovy ​​Fomin to the historical archive to check if there is a deed of gift from Empress Catherine II to the mansion where the library is located. The search for the historical document will prove so difficult that Fomin will spend two years in the archives, find Catherine's deed to the mansion, become a leading expert on the Catherine era, quit criminal investigation, defend his dissertation, and join the Academy of School Sciences.

Having gotten rid of Fomin, Yachmenev finally decides to read the notorious manuscript. He secludes himself in the library. There, Ivan Shalyto finds him. Behind the painting, in a narrow, dusty space between the wall and the back of the canvas, Yachmenev lies bound hand and foot, with a gag sticking out of his boss's mouth!

Yachmenev guesses who tied him up and shoved him behind the painting. His gaze falls on Kuzmin's watercolor for Pushkin's novel "Eugene Onegin." This watercolor previously depicted Onegin on the banks of the Neva. The landscape remained, Onegin disappeared, but he appeared on an old engraving of St. Petersburg against the backdrop of the Mikhailovsky Palace.

Yachmenev sends Ivan to the literary archive with the task of establishing whether Onegin liked to stroll by the Mikhailovsky Palace. Ivan Efremovich will spend two years within the archive's walls, establish that Eugene loved to stroll by the Mikhailovsky Palace, become a leading expert on Onegin, defend his dissertation, and take a job at the Academy of School Sciences.

Yachmenev comes to the conclusion that the usual methods of realism cannot be used in this matter, and turns to the other world. He locks the door and turns out the light. The antique crystal chandelier has dimmed. The faint, swaying glow of the street lamp created an eerie mood. An ominous wind howled outside the window. Somewhere a clock chimed loudly. In a word, everything was as it should be!

Ivan the Terrible stepped out of Repin's painting, a plump lady of Balzac's age fluttered out of Catherine's portrait, a young man dressed like a London dandy jumped out of an old engraving of St. Petersburg and smiled charmingly.

Yachmenev said quietly but clearly: help!

They inform the investigator that they have convicted Academician Zubarev of opportunism, unscrupulousness, careerism, and for desecrating literature and history. As an argument, Onegin refers to the 8th grade literature textbook and essay topics, Catherine complains that she was completely thrown out of the textbooks, and Ivan the Terrible, having read Zubarev's manuscript, fell into such a rage that he lost his temper and hit the academician on the head with his staff.

Yachmenev gathered the academy staff in the library and reported that Sergei Ivanovich Zubarev was killed by Ivan the Terrible, who acted in a conspiracy with Catherine the Second, and Onegin was against the murder, but was unable to prevent it. Georgy Borisovich advised the staff to be careful with history and literature in their research work, lest they suffer the same fate as Zubarev.

The staff were silent. They did not understand whether the investigator was joking or had gone mad.

He left, misunderstood by people who were not given the opportunity to cross the line of reality, returning to a familiar and kind world.

P. S. A month and a half later, a phone call woke investigator Yachmenev at four o'clock in the morning.

"That's a ghost speaking!" said an unfamiliar male voice. "I just killed a film director who was making a film on a historical theme."

Historical detective
Real events
Investigation
Thriller
Drama
Murder
The great playwright
Moscow

Application for a feature series (8 episodes of 50 minutes) based on the author's novel of the same name.
An extended episode plan is ready.

The drama of the life and love of the Russian playwright Sukhovo-Kobylin, which involved eminent dignitaries and nobles of Russia, and an entire army of officials who had a hand in the sensational case, which is included in the 100 most famous unsolved crimes in the world.The author of the famous "Wedding of Krechinsky", "The Case" and "The Death of Tarelkin", accused in 1850 of murdering his French mistress Louise Simon-Demanche, earned in Russia and Europe a reputation as the "Russian Beaumarchais", a great criminal and a great playwright.


CHARACTERS
Alexander Vasilyevich Sukhovo-Kobylin is a young, very rich and noble aristocrat, a famous gambler and Don Juan, Playwright, author of "The Wedding of Krechinsky."
Alexey Mikhailovich Liventsov - an ambitious young lawyer who received nobility through his father's merits; State Secretary under Senator Glukhov, later - an official on special assignments in the Ministry of Justice under Count Panin. Hostile to Sukhovo-Kobylin, he dueled with him: he missed, while Kobylin insultingly fired high, declaring that he would not shoot at a man not his equal.
Louise Simon-Demanche – a French milliner with whom Sukhovo-Kobylin falls in love in Paris and with whom he lived for eight years in Moscow in a secret love affair.
Nadezhda Naryshkina – a socialite beauty, a married aristocrat, pregnant by Sukhovo-Kobylin.
Alexander Grigorievich Naryshkin – a famous aristocrat and a passionate card player of advanced years, whose young wife openly cheats on him with Sukhovo-Kobylin. Commits suicide.
Zakrevsky – Governor-General of Moscow, who hates Sukhovo-Kobylin for his impudent epigrams and for his love affair with his daughter Lydia, whom Kobylin refused to marry.
Lydia – Zakrevsky's daughter, Naryshkina's friend.

SYNOPSIS
The playbill at the entrance to the Maly Theater reveals that today—November 28, 1855—is the premiere of the comedy "Krechinsky's Wedding," written by a certain A. Sukhovo-Kobylin. The hall is sold out, and laughter and applause can be heard. The play's finale begins: Lidochka, bursting into tears, gives the moneylender Bek a diamond pin, Krechinsky utters his final line: "It's fallen through!"—and the audience rises in a single impulse. A resounding success! The camera illuminates a gentleman in the stalls. It is Alexei Liventsov, an official on special assignments for the Ministry of Justice. He looks into the author's box, mesmerized, and proclaims: "Brilliant! Could a murderer have written this? Genius and villainy are two things..." – The gazes of Liventsov and the playwright meet: several years ago, Liventsov was cruelly and publicly insulted in a duel by the man the public is now celebrating. Sukhovo-Kobylin, having slipped from his box, leaves the theater through a service entrance. Liventsov follows him. On the street, a small crowd greets the playwright with angry cries of "Criminal! Murderer!" Amid these cries, Sukhovo-Kobylin leaves Theater Square in his approaching carriage. Liventsov, who remains at the theater, watches the carriage depart with a lingering gaze, once again recalling the deadly duel with Sukhovo-Kobylin.

The passion that grips Sukhovo-Kobylin in Paris, where he meets a French milliner, turns into disaster. In November 1850, the Frenchwoman Louise Simon-Demanche, with whom he had lived in Moscow for eight years in a secret love affair, was found brutally murdered in the snowdrifts of Khodynka Field. Robbery is dismissed as the victim was wearing diamond jewelry worth a fortune. The culprit may be a certain Panchulidzev, an official who arrives at the murdered Frenchwoman's apartment the morning after her disappearance. Panchulidzev's flight from Moscow to St. Petersburg only strengthens these suspicions. Suspicion also falls on Sukhovo-Kobylin, a young and wealthy gentleman, gambler, and Don Juan. Not only does he pick up a blood-stained diamond pin at the threshold of an outbuilding on his estate and secretly hide it, but his servant also arrives at the murdered Frenchwoman's apartment to confiscate all his letters to his mistress. In one of them, Sukhovo-Kobylin threatened Louise with a dagger because of her jealousy. This letter falls into the hands of investigators. Louise was jealous of Nadezhda Naryshkina, a married aristocrat with whom Sukhovo-Kobylin began an affair shortly before the murder. It was Naryshkina, who informed Sukhovo-Kobylin a few hours before the murder that she was pregnant by him, who demanded that he break off relations with the Frenchwoman.

Alexei Liventsov learns of the investigation that has begun and that suspicion of the murder falls on Sukhovo-Kobylin. He, an acquaintance from university, is destined to play a role in identifying the Frenchwoman's killer and developing the criminal case. The relationship between Sukhovo-Kobylin and Liventsov, both harsh and arrogant, is hostile. Four years ago, Liventsov was courting Sukhovo-Kobylin's sister, Elizaveta. Then Kobylin cruelly put an end to their affair, declaring that the son of an official of humble origin was no match for a noble and wealthy woman. Liventsov now serves as State Secretary to Senator Glukhov, who, on behalf of the Tsar, oversees criminal cases involving the nobility in Moscow. Glukhov instructs Liventsov to covertly gather information on the Demanche murder case, as he distrusts the investigation, which is personally overseen by Moscow Governor-General Zakrevsky, who hates Sukhovo-Kobylin for his impudent epigrams and his affair with his deceived daughter, whom Sukhovo-Kobylin refused to marry. When Glukhov gave the order, he knew nothing of the long-standing rivalry and feud between Liventsov and Sukhovo-Kobylin.

Zakrevsky and the investigators have reason to suspect not only Kobylin but also Naryshkina of the crime. Her note to a Catholic pastor is intercepted, asking him not to allow Kobylin near the Frenchwoman's coffin, as if afraid her lover would witness the terrible deed he had done. However, Governor-General Zakrevsky and Chief of Police Luzhin are in no hurry to arrest Naryshkina. They sympathize with her husband, Alexander Grigorievich Naryshkin, an aristocrat and sybarite known throughout Moscow, whom his young wife is cheating on with Sukhovo-Kobylin, taking advantage of her elderly husband's obsession with cards. On the other hand, the dignitaries do not want to implicate yet another noble family without firm evidence. Moreover, Naryshkina is close friends with the governor-general's daughter, Lydia. With Zakrevsky's permission, investigators arrest Naryshkina's maid, Polina. But she stubbornly refuses to talk about her mistress's relationship with Sukhovo-Kobylin. A theory arises that the killer is Sukhovo-Kobylin's valet, Makar Lukyanov, who hated the Frenchwoman for complaining about him to the master, who was quick to punish him. The valet is taken into custody. Also suspected are the Frenchwoman's servants, whom she severely punished for their negligence and who disliked her. Doubts about Kobylin's guilt disappear: investigators discover bloodstains in his house. "He killed to get rid of his French mistress, who was interfering with his affair with Naryshkina!" reasons Liventsov, who is collecting materials on the case and uncovering every detail of the investigation. Sukhovo-Kobylin is arrested. The great Russian play "Krechinsky's Wedding" was destined to be born in prison: in the Myasnitskaya police station, in a cell for especially dangerous criminals, accused of murder and threatened with hard labor, Sukhovo-Kobylin begins writing the great comedy between nightly interrogations, sometimes recalling the days of intoxicating love with Louise Simon-Demanche, sometimes tormented by terrible visions in which the bloody image of his dead lover appears to him...

At the same time, Nadezhda Naryshkina leaves for France, which strengthens suspicions of her involvement in the murder. She is pregnant by Sukhovo-Kobylin—a daughter conceived at the height of their affair, shortly before the murder of the Frenchwoman. The affair with Naryshkina began, Kobylin recalls, just when fate brought him together again with Liventsov; they met at the card table. Wanting revenge on Sukhovo-Kobylin for an insulting shot into the air during a duel, Liventsov desperately raises the stakes during a big game at Naryshkin's house. And he loses everything—money, his horse, the estate inherited from his father. When the gambled Liventsov decides to commit suicide by running out into the street and putting a pistol to his temple, Kobylin stops him: "Don't be a fool!" Returning the promissory note, he advises the young official never to gamble with his only estate.

Governor-General Zakrevsky, who harbors a personal grudge against Sukhovo-Kobylin, celebrates his victory. The case has already reached trial, and the court is ready to deliver a guilty verdict. But suddenly, Sukhovo-Kobylin's serfs, enslaved to Louise Simon-Demanche, confess to the murder. The main killer was the cook, Yefim Yegorov. Liventsov doesn't believe the serfs could have committed the crime. He finds numerous contradictions in the servants' testimony and the actual facts of the case. But it's not up to him to decide—he's merely a secret and jealous observer of the investigation. The serfs' unexpected confession changes Sukhovo-Kobylin's fate, and he is released from prison.

Once free, Sukhovo-Kobylin is busy bringing the play he wrote in prison to the stage. During one of his trips, he meets Liventsov at the post office, whom he hasn't seen since the duel and card game in the Naryshkin house. Liventsov is now a special assignment official in the Ministry of Justice and is traveling to serve in St. Petersburg. After a short and tense encounter, the rivals part, believing they will never see each other again.

During a court hearing to sentence the murderous serfs to hard labor, they declare to the judges that they are innocent—their master persuaded them to take the blame for the promise of money and freedom. The case again turns against Sukhovo-Kobylin, and he ends up in prison again. And Liventsov plays his part in this: having reviewed the case materials on behalf of the Minister of Justice, Count Panin, he convinces the dignitary that, based on the evidence and facts, only Sukhovo-Kobylin could have been the murderer.

The case is deliberately confused by investigators who have conspired for the purpose of making a profit. For them, Sukhovo-Kobylin is a "fat piece," the richest landowner in Russia. The investigators are constructing a case that can be used both against Sukhovo-Kobylin and in his favor. But after the Emperor intervenes, having been informed of the investigation's complexity, the case is assigned to a new investigator. This new investigator is Collegiate Councilor Alexei Mikhailovich Liventsov, a special assignment official under the Minister of Justice, Count Panin. Liventsov is sincerely convinced that Sukhovo-Kobylin is the murderer, attempting to evade punishment with the help of money and connections.

Together with Lieutenant Pyotr Guryev of the Gendarme Corps, Liventsov arrives in Moscow from St. Petersburg to investigate. He takes Kobylin into custody. The interrogations begin. Liventsov works persistently and selflessly.

To his own surprise, Liventsov uncovers sensational facts. A young man, Collegiate Registrar Sergeyev, accidentally falls into the hands of the police. A gold watch and promissory notes from the murdered Louise are found on him. It then emerges that Sergeyev owed a large gambling debt to Naryshkin. Naryshkina's maid, Polina, confesses during interrogation that Naryshkin only pretended to overlook his wife's affair, but was in fact fiercely jealous. The maid, in exchange for money, reported their encounters to her master and allowed him to read their correspondence.

Liventsov understands the full picture of the crime. And it becomes even more sinister when Senator Glukhov, who believed in Kobylin's innocence and tried to help Liventsov in Moscow, is found murdered. The true culprit in the murder turns out to be Alexander Grigorievich Naryshkin. It was he, physically frail but intelligent and calculating, desiring revenge on Kobylin, who hired his debtor, Sergeyev, to commit the murder of a Frenchwoman so that all the evidence would point to Kobylin. Liventsov is ready to incriminate Naryshkin, but the murderer, Sergeyev, is eliminated in his prison cell on the orders of Zakrevsky, who wants to conceal the involvement of Naryshkina's daughter, Lydia, a friend, in the criminal affair. Naryshkin, by committing suicide, avoids shame and trial, leaving Kobylin forever under suspicion.

One dawn morning, Alexander Sukhovo-Kobylin kneels at the grave of Simon-Demanche... When he rises and turns, he notices a figure walking down the alley. It is Alexey Liventsov; he approaches and bows his head for a few moments. After a pause, he announces that the Senate has closed the case and passed a resolution. He brought a copy of it from St. Petersburg for Sukhovo-Kobylin - he takes a paper out of his briefcase: "Retired titular councilor Sukhovo-Kobylin is to remain under suspicion for participation in the murder of Demanche..."

"We lost," says Liventsov. "And this is not a horse, nor an estate - this is your fate. The stigma of a murderer, I believe, will remain with you for the rest of your life..." - "Fate!" - Kobilin smiles bitterly. "Don't be stupid!" - Liventsov suddenly says, as Sukhovo-Kobylin once said to him, ready to commit suicide after losing... Liventsov hands Sukhovo-Kobylin the briefcase: - "This is for you." - "What is this?" - "Copies of the investigative materials... I think you will need this for the new play. "And I can guess what it will be called..." – Kobylin's silent question... – "The Case..." Kobylin takes the briefcase. The former duelists, the former investigator, and the suspect shake hands.

At this time, the most spectacular scenes from Sukhovo-Kobylin's as-yet-unwritten play, "The Case," are playing in the background. Having gone through all the twists and turns of a case unprecedented in its scale and complexity, Sukhovo-Kobylin becomes the author of brilliant plays.

When you grow up in an orphanage, you have a fascination with mirrors, the Da Vinci Code, and inherit the gift of clairvoyance from your grandfather, Wolf Messing. The story of a circus troupe on a journey, the predictions and tragedies the heroine is forced to witness and which destroy her life.

Mystical thriller
Psychological drama
Fantasy detective
Clairvoyance
Predictions
Mirrors
Wolf Messing
Love
Genius

Novel by Dina Rubina "Leonardo's Handwriting" tells the story of a girl named Anna, who has an amazing gift of clairvoyance. She writes in an unusual "mirror" handwriting, similar to that of Leonardo da Vinci, and has a mystical connection with mirrors. Her abilities are linked to her being a descendant of Wolf Messing.

The first parts of the book tell of her life in an orphanage and in a foster family. Anna's (then named Nyuta) foster mother, Mashuta, is surprised by her behavior and strange interest in mirrors. Only Eliezer, an old eccentric who writes in the same handwriting, understands her.

The following parts tell of the main character traveling the world with the circus. However, her gift of foresight brings her only misfortune: she can't change anything and is forced to watch as the tragedies she predicts come true. Moreover, because of her abilities, those around her begin to distrust her and even fear her.

REFERENCES

"The Queen's Gambit" ("The Queen's Gambit"), 2020, dir. S. Frank

MOOD

"Leonardo's Handwriting" is Dina Rubina's first mystical novel. There is mysticism here, and the main conflict revolves around the supernatural abilities of the main character. In the story of a girl-woman with a strange connection with mirrors and the ability to know everything in advance, including people's destinies, Rubina is more interested not in her gift itself, but in how strange and hard it can be for its owner among people, what beautiful and monstrous things can happen by her will. Or fault. Or without one or the other, simply because a person can see what he can, and cannot help but see it.


HEROES

At the center is poor, unhappy Nyuta, who was weighed down by the unwanted weight of her gift, and this burden became heavier with each passing year: the path from a girl ringing with laughter to rough boredom. Endowed with supernatural abilities and yet remaining human, a saint in her humanity.

Around her are Anatoly and Mashuta - wonderful people who accidentally drew a ticket to the looking glass.

Vladimir (the hero - a trickster) is simple, likeable in his "realness".

Eliezer is a big child with a genius brain, kind and obedient.

"old musician Senya" (the hero is an artist) is a subtle, musical person, but what a charm comes from this melancholic man, like his musical instrument, with his hard-won happiness, obtained at the end of his life.

You can't call them all idyllically happy, each one has their own loneliness inside. Rubina has practically no absolutely negative characters, even the most unsympathetic ones have something human (the fat albino is Eliezer's negative)


SYNOPSIS

"... He assured that she was an angel. Funny, of course? Not in the sense that she was like an angel from heaven, but that her nature was related to certain creatures that in the popular consciousness appear as angels, archangels, and all sorts of... and other heavenly brethren. "That people believe in them, because from time to time such creatures really do appear on earth among people..." - says Vladimir about the main character Anna.

The center of the novel is a girl/young woman Anna, the illegitimate daughter of the illegitimate son of the legendary Wolf Messing. She is left-handed, like Leonardo da Vinci. She has a special brain structure (ambidextrous), which makes it more convenient to write from right to left, so that the text can only be read with the help of a mirror - this is called "mirror writing", or "reverse writing" or "Leonardo's handwriting".

From the very beginning of the novel, the author shows who is on the minds of all the characters. The neighbor in the apartment, in whose arms three-year-old Nyuta, a "twice prodigal brat", ended up after the death of her mother. And the adoptive parents, who raise and educate a girl with such rich genes with understanding and caution. The souls of Anna's husband, a simple-minded Ukrainian lad, and her eternally betrothed lover, a master bassoon player, ache. The story is told from the perspective of these characters.

The novel describes the heroine's childhood, youth, and adulthood. The narrative is nonlinear, but this allows us to follow the heroine's life through the eyes of recurring characters, within the novel's tightly wound timeline.

First there was the child. After the death of his mother, the child refused to eat. At all. After incredible efforts, the adoptive parents return the girl Anya to a normal life, but they notice some oddities about her: she is left-handed, predicts events, reads backwards, and writes "in Michelangelo's handwriting" - that is, what she writes can only be read as a reflection in a mirror.

The child can predict the future, plays with mirrors in endless corridors, understands unfamiliar languages, and when she sees a person for the first time, can immediately name their birthdate, phone number, and guess the score of football matches. Although, there is nothing surprising in this, because this is a twice-illegitimate child - the illegitimate daughter of the illegitimate son of the famous psychic Wolf Messing. And her grandfather's abilities were inherited. As a child, she memorized large texts on the fly, but she could not learn to read until they discovered that she was reading and writing in a mirror image. She has a brilliant ability for mathematics and physics, in the future she will be a brilliant circus performer, an incredible stuntwoman, she knows everything there is to know about mirrors. She has the courage that is so necessary for people in dangerous professions, and who cannot be who they are without it.

But this genius, passed down through generations, makes Anna practically incapable of normal, habitual contact with the world. A retrained left-hander (perhaps from Satan, the foolish gossiped), she reads words backwards, memorizes foreign languages ​​and sciences on the fly. She exists in her own upside-down world, writes in mirror-image handwriting, and looks into the mysterious depths of mirrors.

The principle of her life is comparable to a kind of monasticism in the world. Rubina seems to draw a line: genius - saint - angel. Nyuta dismissively rejects the gift. Anna doesn't care about money, clothes, or people. That is, she treats some people well, even very well (those who managed to see her as she is and speak to her as an equal), but with others she simply lives nearby. She clearly doesn't notice most of what happens - she has a special relationship with the world. But sometimes she cries out a prophecy that appears out of nowhere. Thus, at circus school, she predicted the death of a fellow student, and in early childhood, the death of her nanny, Polina, on the operating table. At the same time, she is characterized by contempt for the Higher.

Everything in the novel is focused on unraveling Anna's mystery, her mystical connection with mirrors, which allow her to see the past and present, and foresee the future. Before us is a modern-day Cassandra, with an equally tragic fate. But Dina Rubina, with her characteristic meticulousness, recounted the childhood prophecies of the new Cassandra. She showed how the child gradually discovers her otherness, her omniscience of the future, and gradually realizes that the people she loves and loves do not possess this knowledge, and therefore treat their adopted daughter with hidden fear, mistrust, and even fear her. Rubina is interested not in the gift itself, but in how difficult it is for a gifted person to live in a world of ordinary people.

Dina Rubina is a former musician, her musical talent is reflected in a brilliant word about the role of the bassoon in the orchestra, as well as in an amazing, purely musical find - to begin the novel in complete silence with a single alarming note in which an impending catastrophe is guessed. Here a three-year-old girl climbs onto a stool at night, pulls the mourning shroud from the mirror and freezes, peering into its depths. "She runs and runs her finger over the mirror, as if drawing a person, - recalls a neighbor, who became an unwitting witness of this spectacle, - and strokes, strokes someone."

Anya sees her own there. Her deceased mother, the imminent future, an attractive, wondrous place. But the gift, as a rule, is heavy. «She was increasingly tormented by headaches, and a harassing ringing in her ears. <…> In her youth, she knew how to cut out other people's voices, push away the sound cloud above her head, mentally wipe mirrors… <…> She built a mirror corridor along which she rushed, trying to slip through busy areas… It was easiest on the road - on a motorcycle, in a car, on trains… on planes.».

Anya or Nyuta - as a child, she accidentally enrolls in the "Entertaining Looking-Glass" club, where the classes are taught by the strange, fat Eliezer. And she does not communicate at all with her adoptive mother, who gave her everything and eventually went crazy from neglect and jealousy of Through the Looking-Glass.

The entire narrative unfolds under the magical influence of mirrors. The mirror serves as a metaphor for the transition from the world of the living to the world of the dead. Something Anna least expects to see may appear in it: the collapse of a longe and the death of a gifted aerialist, the terrible death of Helen, Genevieve's beloved. Anna tries to warn the heroes of what fate has in store for them, but no one heeds her warnings. And when the prophesied event comes true, Anna is accused of witchcraft, and Genevieve tries to kill her. Anna flees her gift, immersing herself in the bustle of circus life, in the passions of a stuntwoman, just to avoid hearing the question from her loved ones, just to avoid seeing the answer in the mirror, just to blend in with these people, to become like everyone else.

The images that appear in the mirror become a source of fear and melancholy, and the fragile bridge connecting Anna with people is maintained only by her love for the bassoonist Sen and the teacher of optical illusions Eliezer.

Her entire life is written in the Da Vinci cipher. Anna needs to record every event, re-arrange it for herself, and only then “lay it down” on the shelf of her consciousness in a sequence understandable only to her. She didn’t even immediately recognize herself in the mirror. An ascetic lifestyle and risk, which in one form or another is present at all stages of her growing up, help her cope with the feeling of fear of the One-who-rewarded-her-with-abilities-unusual-for-a-human.

Anna decides to go to meet the Unknown, who has gifted her so richly, in order to trap her fear of the mirror, so as not to become a victim of sudden and unexpected effects. She masters the art of optical games and creates performances of optical illusions.

But you can't escape fate; even Dina Rubina's tragic ending is light and mysterious. "Well, she said to herself. She got on her motorcycle, pulled it out of the parking lot, and, accelerating to maximum speed,... reared it up and, flying over the fence, raced along the mirrored corridor between the black, sparkling lights of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the black bay of the golden fireworks sky." Suicide or ascension to heaven?