The plot of the novel “The Cure for a Long Life” is based on real events related to the sudden death of the owner of a large shipping company, Nikolai Maksimenko, which followed in October 1888. The investigation of a trivial death from typhus led to the discovery of a cunning conspiracy to seize a profitable enterprise. In 2006, an abridged version of the book entitled “The Tsar’s Expertise” was published by the Krylov publishing house. This publication is the author's version of the text.