Introducing a new detective story by Yulia Andreeva, a master of the historical novel, author of popular books: “The Last Knight of Toulouse”, “The Executioner, the Executioner’s Son”, “Frederick Barbarossa” and many others. How are the kidnapped maid of honor, the beheaded maid, and the Empress’s pearls, which disappeared nine years ago, connected? All this will have to be investigated by sixteen-year-old investigator Stepan Sheshkovsky, whose ill-fated star is about to rise in the firmament of Russian detective work.