Secret People

Christmas Petrograd. During a lavish dinner at a trendy restaurant, detectives Lykov and Azvestopulo notice two suspicious characters sitting nearby. One of them is a young man with a distinctly criminal demeanor. The other is shaven, his cheeks gleaming - undoubtedly a German. Although the detectives have had a bit to drink, they decide to follow the suspicious individuals.
However, the gangster and the German skillfully dissolve into the damp St. Petersburg night. Their trail leads the detectives to the 'Mitava' hotel, where the bellboy has seen the pair in a suite. That's great! Now the forensic scientists can identify the criminal by his fingerprints and find out his name at the police department’s registration bureau.
The examination results were simply astounding… In the hotel room, only the fingerprints of the German Vedel were found. There were no other prints. To be precise, there were prints, but without any papillary lines. And how can you identify traces that do not exist?

An exciting historical detective novel by the winner of the 'Russian Detective' award Nikolai Sveshchin. The novel is part of the series about detective Alexei Lykov and is the 38th in the count.