Death as Art. Book One: Masks

«Life is a theater, and people in it are actors». This famous Shakespearean saying fits perfectly with the new novel by the queen of contemporary detective fiction, Alexandra Marinina. After all, Theater is not only high art; it is like a living organism that cannot tolerate lies, betrayal, and sometimes retaliates very cruelly.

In the theater «New Moscow», a mysterious and incomprehensible crime occurs for those around — an attempted murder of the director and artistic leader L.A. Bogomolov. Now, private detective Anastasia Kamenskaya and young operative Anton Stashis from Petrovka begin the investigation, which leads them to astonishing and unexpected results. There are many suspects, all of whom are lying, each with their own reasons for this lie: parental love, blind passion, vile blackmail, the thirst for success that comes at too high a price, and the fear of exposure. It seems that everything revolves around the Theater, but one small, seemingly insignificant event, rooted in the past and ultimately becoming fateful, gives rise to new evil. And today it is time to restore justice...