In his adventure novels, Donald E. Westlake turns the criminal world on its head. In Donald E. Westlake's classic adventure crime novels, everything bad becomes good, and God helps everyone who has anything to do with John Dortmunder at any given moment. This time Westlake describes one of the scams that are mostly temporary and ineffective. Its main character does not believe in the success of this scam and does not want to take part in it. But due to blackmail, which has been going on for a long time... What's funny? And all because of the cunning actions of a former cop named Eppik, who is diligently trying to drag Dortmunder into his game, but he still resists. With no alternative, he gathers his loyal team and they begin a dangerous hunt for treasure - a long-lost gold and jeweled chess set that was once a gift to the last Romanov Tsar, and which, unfortunately, is lost somewhere in the world. Russia, when his reign ended. As soon as Dortmunder finds the first pawn, he immediately faces insurmountable odds. The stolen part from the precious collection confused all his plans that he could make. The success of the operation is a big question, but John Dortmunder would not be himself if he had not been so persistent, and a couple of gambits or other pieces could easily line up into a winning game.