"Detective, Find the Thief!" by Elena Nesterina, summary Automatic translate

The detective story "Detective, Find the Thief!", written in 2002, opens the reader to a world of school secrets and teenage anxieties. The events revolve around the confrontation between new student Arina Balovantseva and a mysterious thief terrorizing the seventh-grade class, Class B. The plot centers on a psychological game of identifying the culprit. The protagonist must use her wits to clear herself of the false accusations of her classmates.

This book is the first installment in the "The Fairest Mafia" series. This well-known children’s detective series also includes "A Poodle Wanders Through Europe," "The Stolen Piano," "The Edible Evidence Warehouse," and other works by the author. They chronicle the adventures of a close-knit team of schoolchildren.

A new student and the first thefts

Arina Balovantseva is transferring to a new school. Her mother recently married banker Konstantin Alexandrovich. The girl flatly refuses to pursue specialized education. At her insistence, she is placed in a regular seventh-grade "B" class. Her homeroom teacher is the kind-hearted physical education teacher, Petr Bronislavovich.

In her very first geography lesson, Arina encounters a rebellion among her classmates against the thuggish teacher, Sergei Nikitich, nicknamed "Syrnik." The students melted cheese curds on the radiator and smeared them on the teacher’s chair. Arina doesn’t join in the mischief. She simply claims a separate, spacious desk at the back of the room, pushing aside the silent Vitya Ryndin.

Soon, pocket money starts disappearing regularly from the class. First, the money collected by the gym teacher for school lunches disappears. Then, a thief steals change right before the pies are sold in the cafeteria. Hungry classmates start looking askance at Arina. The thefts began right when she arrived. Furthermore, the girl ostentatiously eats expensive sandwiches from the Kolokolchik fast-food restaurant for lunch.

Meanwhile, a love drama is unfolding at school. Form teacher Pyotr Bronislavovich secretly falls in love with Svetlana Yuryevna, a history teacher. A dreamy poet, Anton Mylchenko, nicknamed Humanoid, decides to help the gym teacher. He composes a pompous love sonnet, signs it with the teacher’s name, and slips it into Svetlana Yuryevna’s expensive bag. The girl is frightened by the strange poems and begins to avoid the amorous gym teacher.

During history class, Svetlana Yuryevna admonishes Arina. The new girl is engrossed in reading "The Heart of Bonivur" at her desk. As punishment, Pyotr Bronislavovich forces Arina to run ten laps around the school track. The proud girl stubbornly continues running, despite her fatigue. Vitya Ryndin decides to support his classmate. He takes her hand, and they finish the race together.

Operation to catch the thief

Geographer Syrnik continues to take revenge on his students for disrupting their lessons. He locks their backpacks in the classroom during recess and marks their grades as failing grades. Arina urges the class not to tolerate the bullying. She demonstratively leaves the lesson. Kostya Shibai’s money disappears from his pocket under the stairs, where the escaped students are hiding. All suspicion once again falls on Balovantseva. The situation escalates when Natasha Sorokvasha’s brand new iPod is stolen.

During a school disco, Petr Bronislavovich allows the children to leave their belongings in the closed gym. Arina borrows the teacher’s key to retrieve her coat before leaving. Meanwhile, Mamed Batyrov’s ten-euro bill disappears, and Dasha Spiridonova’s wallet is snatched. The outraged students run to the gym and find Arina there. Dasha searches the new girl’s pockets and finds Mamed’s missing bill.

Arina denies her guilt and slaps Kostya Shibay for insulting her family. The girl firmly promises to find the real culprit and prove her innocence. Vitya Ryndin comes to Arina’s defense, ready to fight back against any aggressor. Later, Arina plants a foul-smelling broken ampoule, taken from her grandfather, a chemist, in the intern’s bag as she leaves school. Thus, she takes revenge for the heartache of the lovesick gym teacher, completely ruining Svetlana Yuryevna’s upcoming engagement to her fiancé.

Arina begins her own investigation. She notices that the thief is targeting the most timid and inattentive children. One day, in the school locker room, she notices a hand rummaging through someone else’s pockets. The thief manages to escape. But the girl remembers the sleeve of a blue sports jacket with a distinctive football emblem.

Excursion and new suspicions

During another geography lesson, Arina organizes a spectacular protest called "Vampire Cheese." Class 7B draws the black curtains, draws skeletons on them, and sprinkles chalk on the teacher’s chair. A frightened Syrnik runs to complain to the principal, but runs into Petr Bronislavovich. Bronislavovich asks his colleague to grade fairly. Eventually, Syrnik calms his anger and no longer lowers grades for behavior.

Arina shares her suspicions with her new ally, Vitya Ryndin. She suggests using bait. Vitya takes Arina’s brother’s old cell phone and begins openly carrying it in the pocket of his bag behind his back, showing it off to his classmates. The thief should be tempted by the valuable item.

Soon, the school is rocked by news: one of the students is transferring to another school after the first quarter. Arina realizes he’s the thief, eager to escape with his loot. On the eve of the holidays, the class, instead of attending classes, goes on a field trip to the local meat processing plant.

Senior technologist Galina Gavrilovna takes the boys on a tour of the workshops, charming Pyotr Bronislavovich along the way. During the tour, poet Antosha Mylchenko stages a vegetarian protest. He climbs the ceiling pipes, loses his balance, and falls into a huge vat of cold, lard-and-fat sludge. The boy has to be washed out with fire hoses. Arina and Vitya, in the confusion, keep an eye on the decoy phone, but the thief hesitates.

Gym teacher Petr Bronislavovich buys a gold ring with an emerald to propose to Galina Gavrilovna. A lecturer on family life comes to the school. To listen to the specialist’s advice, the teacher leads his class into the lecture. While examining the ring during class, Petr Bronislavovich accidentally drops it. After class, he discovers the box containing the ring is missing. The gym teacher assumes the ring has been stolen and, in despair, cancels his date with his beloved.

Vitya Ryndin suspects Antosha Mylchenko of the thefts and pins him against the wall bars. The frightened poet confesses to writing the poems and tells about the gym teacher’s loss of the ring.

Exposure and reconciliation

On the last day of school, the thief decides to take action. In the confusion after the bell, Vladik Fedyushov unzips the pocket of Vitya’s bag and pulls out his cell phone. Arina notices this in time, rushes forward, and grabs Vladik’s arm. Vitya helps her restrain the thief. Her classmates freeze in shock, realizing who was behind all the thefts.

Vladik Fedyushov confesses to the crime. It turns out his family is moving to a new apartment, his parents have drastically cut his allowance, and he’s decided to save up for a computer and a music player. Arina demands the immediate return of the stolen items. The entire class leads Vladik on foot to the fifteenth floor of the new building, where his apartment is located.

Vladik gives the iPod to Natasha Sorokvasha and returns the stolen money to the boys. A red box containing the gym teacher’s emerald ring falls out of his secret bag. At that moment, Vladik’s parents return home. The schoolchildren tell the adults the whole truth about their son’s misdeeds.

Arina displays a sense of generosity and suggests not turning Vladik over to the police. She tells him to use the remaining stolen money to buy a new globe to replace the one accidentally broken during a protest in the geography classroom. Vladik’s parents agree with this decision and promise to reform their son.

On Monday, Vladik’s parents pick up his documents from school. They give the principal a huge globe and a roll of maps. Arina discreetly slips a gold ring into Pyotr Bronislavovich’s supply closet. The delighted gym teacher discovers the missing ring, proposes to Galina Gavrilovna, and receives her acceptance.

Vitya Ryndin and Arina are strolling through an autumn park. The girl admits she wants to remain a loner, like the Native American chief from her favorite book. Vitya offers to become her loyal ally, always ready to help in times of need. Arina agrees.