The story takes place at the beginning of the century. The reader is confronted with a series of suspects, many of whom were enemies of the murdered man. The events in the story develop in such a way that one crime, as if in a chain, leads to another. But an unusual outcome awaits the impatient reader at the end of the story. The main character of the story is the talented and ingenuous detective Alexey Romanovich Patmosov, who skillfully investigates incredibly complicated cases. The prototype for this character was apparently the luminary of St. Petersburg detective work - the famous Putilin.