“Brother” is the first novel in a new series of detective stories by Yulia Yakovleva, the action in which takes place at the beginning of the 19th century. The author brings the chosen era closer to the atmosphere of a modern “hard-boiled” detective: a Russian captain in 1812, who unwillingly became a detective, solves a modern-looking - and at the same time possible at any time - crime. The events of the first book take place in the fall of 1812. The war is still going on, but it is already rolling further west, to Europe, and officers are gradually coming to St. Petersburg - some on leave, some due to injury. Murin decides to interrupt his vacation early and return to the war. But in the morning the sister of his regimental comrade Proshin comes to him and asks for help: her brother was arrested in a gambling house for the brutal murder of a woman. The girl does not believe that her brother could do this, and asks Murin to find the truth, no matter how bitter it turns out to be. Proshin himself does not remember what happened, and believes that he could have killed in a fit and drunkenness. Murin decides to spend the rest of his vacation searching for the truth, which turns out to be more cynical than imagined. But the real culprit does not escape retribution.