Miroslava Holmes, the one and only licensed private detective in the United Sovereign States of Russia, has a new case. She's been called in on a locked room murder—and to make things worse, it's the locked room of an agent of the Embassy Bureau, a 17th century Russian James Bond. This is a political case, and the Embassy Bureau isn't talking to anyone. Solving the case is going to leave Miroslava at the crossroads where law and justice part ways. But not everything is murders and spies. No, sometimes it's the theft of a piece of costume jewelry from a girl at the Happy Bottom Club. And this case leads Miroslava into the bailiwick of another detective. Detective Corporal Viktor Zuykov, who doesn't want her interference. That, however, isn't going to stop Miroslava. When money is involved things can get dangerous, and to catch the actual culprit, Miroslava and her faithful friend, Vasilii Lyapunov, must chase him to Kazan.