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October 1898. Petersburg has gone mad: a lady is chewing a squirrel hat, a gentleman crows after jumping onto the counter, a prison guard has shot a female prisoner. The suicide of an official from the Security Department causes particular alarm: he drowned in the city center. Vanzarov is entrusted with a secret investigation: not only to catch the killer but to find the missing Machina Terroris — the Machine of Fear. This mysterious invention possibly controls actions, turning people into weak-willed somnambulists. To uncover the mystery, Vanzarov must look into the darkest depths of hypnosis... 

Anton Chizh is a Russian detective fiction writer. His books have been published with a total circulation of over a million copies. Based on Anton Chizh's thrillers, the series "Agatha and Investigation. The Queen of Diamonds" and "Agatha and Investigation. Roulette of Fate" were filmed. In 20 novels, the writer created beloved characters for readers of historical detective fiction: Rodion Vanzarov and Apollon Lebedev, Alexei Pushkin, and Agatha Kern. The sharp, dynamic, unpredictable plot of the novels unfolds against the backdrop of 19th-century Russia. The intrigue keeps the reader in suspense until the last page. Besides thrilling entertainment, the modern reader finds in these detective stories answers to questions that concern us today.  
Anton Chizh's book series have entered the "golden fund" of domestic historical detective fiction.