The artist Arthur Kornilin came to visit his grandfather, a forester living in the wilderness near a mysterious lake about which there are various rumors. Here he hopes to write something significant and unusual. And he succeeds. Businessman and art critic Sergei Gorsky, a friend of Kornilin, is shocked by his new canvases. But soon Cornilin dies under very strange circumstances, leaving his most mysterious painting, “The Queen of Snakes,” to a friend. What caused the artist's death: an accident or murder? Gorsky begins his own investigation and finds himself a participant in unexplained events. Is it by chance that two extraordinary girls Lida and Alena, two sisters from the wilderness of the forest, enter his life and become rivals in the fight for his heart? What will this fatal love lead to? Is the legend of the Queen of Snakes connected with the death of the artist? And if so, how to break out of the vicious circle? In a mysterious way, modern events and fatal passions are connected with the life of medieval Florence and Ancient Egypt. The novel is being published in a new edition. Previously, the novel was published under the title “Green Whirlpool.”