Nina begins teaching a course called “The Psychology of Lies” at the law school. On the very first day, a student, Kristina Kashirova, invites her to assess her stepfather, whom she suspects of murdering her mother. Kashirova, a society lioness known for her extravagant antics, was stabbed the day before with an unusual knife. The body found in a filthy alleyway was dressed in beggar’s clothes. While Nina assesses Kristina’s stepfather, Skvortsov tries to determine whether the death of the wealthy woman is connected to the murder of a homeless woman in the same neighborhood a year earlier.
But the answer will come only at the spot of another crime—and it will be in Latin. Very soon, the sayings of ancient Roman philosophers will make many Muscovites tremble with fear.
