Ilya Lunin is average in all respects. Incomes are average, the career of an investigator on particularly important cases in the regional committee is developing so-so, and a lively colleague is literally breathing down the neck of the hapless Ilya Olegovich. And family affairs do not inspire optimism: as Ilya suspects, his wife is having an affair on the side. And apparently, the new case received by Ilya should finally transfer him to the category of losers. A maniac is operating in the area, committing cruel and seemingly senseless crimes, leaving no evidence. But suddenly Ilya has a trail. True, it leads to a local celebrity - thriller writer Ivan Korolenko. He lives in a small town as an eccentric sybarite gentleman, surrounded by the veneration of the residents and city authorities. Yes, only in one of his latest bestsellers the details of the very series of murders that Lunin is investigating are described in amazing detail...