Daria Saltykova went down in history as one of the most brutal murderers, her nickname - “Saltychikha” - became synonymous with inhumanity, a symbol of cruelty and sadism hiding behind the facade of the “golden age” of the Russian nobility. The novel “Saltychikha” is based on materials from criminal chronicles of the 18th century. The heroine of the novel is the landowner of the Podolsk district of the Moscow province, Daria Nikolaevna Saltykova, known for her extremely cruel treatment of serfs. The investigation into her case established that she tortured more than a hundred people to death. In 1768, the landowner was sentenced to death, commuted to life imprisonment in a monastery prison.