The Shroud of the Scarlet Rose

It seems that Stepan Koshkin's new case can be solved without leaving the crime scene: the victim managed to write the name of the murderer on the wall with her blood. The presumed villain is caught but does not admit guilt, and seems to have no motive. But while the police are tirelessly searching for this motive, Koshkin comes across the diaries of the very victim, Alla Soboleva – a lovely lady of forty-five, a widow of a respectable man, who has been living quietly and in seclusion for many years in an old estate amidst a rose garden. The diaries recount the times when Alla was called Rose, when she was young and far from being as harmless and pious as people are used to thinking about her... The more Koshkin immerses himself in reading, the more it becomes obvious to him – this investigation will surely not be simple.