About the book: 2001 / 1870s. In St. Petersburg, the Mongol prince was killed, having sold his soul to the devil, and a little later the writer Kamensky was shot with a silver bullet. 1893. On the banks of the Volkhov River, the retired chief of the detective police talks about his most extraordinary investigation. 1913. Russian officer Solodovnikov participates in a military campaign in Mongolia. 1918. On the streets of St. Petersburg, Mongolian lamas offer prayers under the sign “suuvastik.” Four times, four eras are intertwined in the novel into a whimsical tangle of crimes and punishments, which only one person can unravel - Ivan Dmitrievich Putilin. His talent as a detective sheds light not only on the past, but also for the future.