"Permissible Error" by Chingiz Abdullaev, summary

A murder investigation reveals the dark side of the capital’s well-fed elite. This book is a vicious circle detective story, where greed, marital infidelity, and cold selfishness lurk behind a veneer of decorum. The work was written in 2001.

The book is part of the popular detective series about the unnamed expert Drongo. This extensive series also includes the acclaimed novels "Blue Angels," "An Almost Incredible Murder," "Ashes of Hope," and "Ocean of Hatred." The analyst solves crimes through sheer intellect.

A visit from a blackmailed oligarch

On a rainy Moscow evening, unscrupulous millionaire Boris Ratushinsky persistently seeks a meeting with analyst Drongo and his partner, Edgars Veidemanis. The guest has amassed a fortune through fraud. Two months ago, journalist Lisichkin published a scandalous article about the entrepreneur’s sugar scams, using authentic documents from his desk. The blackmailer was promised a tidy sum. On the eve of the long-awaited meeting with the money, the reporter suddenly died in a car accident, so the client hires private forensic experts to find the thief among the six family members.

The pool of suspects is strictly limited. The magnate’s sister, Evgenia Ratushinskaya, works as a rank-and-file doctor, unsuccessfully trying to save her childish husband, Vitaly Molokov, who is constantly losing money in his commercial ventures. His legal wife, Maya Archvadze, holds a high position at the Institute of Literature, boasting of her impeccable princely lineage. His secretary, Yulia Geller, is writing her dissertation. Rounding out the list are television director Mikhail Denisenko and his reserved companion, Inna, who has been friends with the haughty owner of the mansion for many years, working in the same research department and enjoying their vacations together. The partner’s address book is filling up with names.

The partners recall Conan Doyle’s classic story about Dr. Roylott. Such analogies lead the detective to suspect a family connection to the crime. The client is clearly concealing part of the truth.

A Country Reception and a Deadly Glass

On Saturday, the partners arrive at an elite gated community on Rublevskoye Highway. A haughty hostess greets the guests. This educated woman readily quotes classic foreign detective stories, discussing fatal fate and inevitable retribution for sins committed. A secretary appears on the garden path. During a confidential conversation in the garden, Yulia confesses to Drongo about a calculated intimate relationship with her boss. The young woman dreams of her own office.

Gradually, the remaining guests arrive. At the porch, the feisty Evgenia loudly scolds her timid companion for his constant failures at work. The woman sarcastically recalls yesterday’s diplomatic reception. At the embassy reception, the forgetful Inna nearly lost a rare Spanish fan with a painted scarlet flower. The lady of the mansion shudders strangely. The late Denisenko starts a risky argument with Molokov about the dangers of illegal arms trafficking through neighboring Ukraine.

The businessman generously pours cognac. The terrifying sound of a broken tureen echoes from the kitchen, gathering the frightened guests around the guilty cook. Upon returning, Molokov knocks over one of his glasses. After a sumptuous manly toast, Denisenko, left without a glass, takes his wife’s glass, takes a greedy sip, and collapses, dead, onto the carpet. Maya, unconscious, slides out of her chair.

Laboratory analysis reveals a lethal dose of cyanide exclusively in Inna’s unfinished glass.

Night maneuvers and the secrets of the suspects

That night, investigator Oskolkov spends a long time questioning the mansion’s inhabitants, suspecting a conspiracy. The oligarch blames his secretary. An ambulance doctor arrives and shamelessly offers to issue a fake certificate of common household poisoning for a generous bribe, but is met with a firm veto from the analyst. The body is sent to the morgue. The next morning, the detective tasks his assistant Kruzhkov with uncovering the secrets of Molokov’s arms business, while Veidemanis collates newspaper revelations about the dead journalist.

During the day, the analyst visits Denisenko’s empty apartment. A talkative neighbor reports an urgent trip by the grieving widow and a relative to the district forensic morgue. Drongo discovers Ratushinsky’s car at the morgue’s doors. The office owner justifies his disappearance by citing concerns for close family friends.

A detective inspects a client’s two-story apartment. A staircase from the living room to the second floor allows for undetected entry into the office in twenty-two seconds. The client confesses to secretly suspending his secretary.

Late on a rainy evening, a distressed Yulia, wearing a cherry-colored suit, unexpectedly knocks on the door of an expert’s city apartment. To save her lucrative position, the frightened visitor demonstratively dumps her things right in the kitchen, hoping to buy the hospitable host’s professional favor with her seductive nakedness, receiving in return only a demand to leave the premises immediately. The offended careerist slams the door.

Bloody drama in the bedroom

On Saturday, the expert arrives at the dacha for a private interview with the awakened owner. A scandal erupts downstairs. A drunken Molokov desperately attacks the detective over the uncovered credit fraud, receiving an immediate and crushing rebuff. The nurse reports the patient’s alarm. Suddenly, two muffled revolver shots are heard from the second floor of the house.

The men force the locked door down with their shoulders. The bloodied body of the woman lies on the bed, wounded in the shoulder and heart. The numb secretary holds a smoking gun. The enraged widower attempts to strangle the girl with his bare hands, forcing Drongo to stun him with the heavy butt of the weapon. Molokov’s next attack ends in a knockout. Inna Denisenko, dressed in mourning, rises from below, stunned by the horror of the scene.

Yulia, who has regained consciousness, swears complete innocence. She had crept into the bedroom through the balcony window to intercede, instinctively picking up the fallen pistol. The detective finds a broken souvenir fan under the chair. A timely phone call from her assistant confirms that journalist Lisichkin has abandoned his investigation into his relatives’ arms business in favor of compromising evidence about sugar.

Exposing crimes

The silent participants in the events sit down in the spacious living room, along with the district prosecutor. The detective names the thief. The businessman’s sister stole the files from his home office to save her husband from exposure of his arms dealings in the national press. The principled journalist categorically rejected the offer of cash, agreeing to close the case of the illegal sale of Ural weapons to Arab countries across the Ukrainian border only after receiving damning incriminating evidence against the sugar tycoon. Evgenia let it slip by describing the reporter’s freckles.

The deadly poison in the wine glass was intended for someone else entirely. In Spain, the frivolous Ratushinsky bought two identical souvenirs with painted roses, giving the secret gift to Inna Denisenko. Her sister-in-law’s story revealed the betrayal. The offended hostess poured cyanide into her friend’s glass during a commotion in the kitchen, and Molokov’s clumsy gesture diverted the poisoned drink to the innocent Denisenko. The horror of this sin overwhelmed the princess. Before her death, the culprit summoned her husband’s mistress for belated forgiveness, after which she coldly pulled the trigger of her revolver twice in quick succession.

The exposed mistress silently leaves the living room. The disgraced Molokovs hastily depart, amid the belated, furious curses of their deceived relative. The oligarch is left completely alone. Drongo disgustedly rejects the promised fee for the investigation, declaring the money stinks, and leaves the deserted dacha.