Summary of "The Whirlpool of Other People’s Desires" by Elena Mikhalkova

This book is a detective story that connects the destinies of different people around a mystical wooden figurine. Written in 2008, it intertwines ancient village mysteries with a modern urban investigation, where an ordinary carved wooden toy ruins lives. The detective story is the fifth book in the acclaimed "Investigations of Makar Ilyushin and Sergey Babkin" series. In 2013, a successful four-part television series based on the novel’s plot was made.

Echoes of an old crime

Private investigators Makar Ilyushin and Sergei Babkin encounter echoes of an old crime. Fifteen years ago, in 1993, Makar’s girlfriend, Alisa, was stabbed in the street. A witness, Zinaida Belova, a cloakroom attendant at the institute, also disappeared. Ilyushin, having accidentally seen the elderly Belova in a television report about street cleaners, finds her. It turns out she survived. The bandits spared Zinaida, ordering her to leave and keep quiet. She hid in the village for many years and still fears reprisals. Belova names her attackers: the Skovorodov brothers from the village of Krasnye Voznichi. The detectives begin their search.

Village legend

Meanwhile, an old story unfolds in the neighboring village of Kudryashovo. A young tractor driver, Nikolai Khokhlov, goes out at night to Maryina Omut. A drunken Nikolai mistakes the town girls swimming for a real mermaid. Believing in a miracle, he carves a wooden figurine from a young willow. Nikolai makes a wish for his unapproachable neighbor, Oksana, and his wish miraculously comes true. The tractor driver makes plans for a new, rich life. Soon, Nikolai recognizes the same town girl in the village store and realizes he’s been the victim of a stupid prank. Crushed by disappointment, he gives the figurine to his friend, Mikhail Levushin, and drowns himself in the pool.

Levushin makes a wish for his shrewish mother-in-law to become meek. His mother-in-law truly does change, frightened by her son-in-law’s threats. Mikhail grows bored of living in a world without scandal. He gives the mermaid to a fellow villager’s wife, the unattractive Natalya Kotik. Natalya wishes to become beautiful. Seeing no immediate change, she angrily throws the mermaid into the bushes. Soon, Natalya learns that she is expecting a long-awaited son. Overwhelmed with happiness, the woman blossoms and truly becomes an incredible beauty. She finds the figurine and gives it to her old neighbor, Marya Avdotyevna.

Nikolai Khokhlov’s young widow, Faina, decides the mermaid belongs to her. She wants to take the figurine back, but discovers that Oleg Votchin, a visiting Moscow architectural expert, has taken it from Marya Avdotyevna. Faina puts a gauze bag over her head and lies in wait for the Muscovite in a dark alley. Votchin manages to fight off the knife-wielding woman and escape. Enraged, Faina leaves the village, changes her name to Emma, and starts anew. Oleg Votchin takes the mermaid to Moscow.

Moscow secrets

In the present day, Katya Vikulova, a student from Rostov-on-Don, is recovering from a severe spinal injury. Her expensive treatment is being paid for by Artur Ashotyan. She marries him out of deep gratitude. Suddenly, Artur tells his wife he borrowed money from violent gangsters. The family hastily flees to Moscow. Katya works as a courier, delivering heavy bags. She is forced to support her husband, sister-in-law Seda, and mother-in-law Diana Arutyunovna. The relatives spend their days in a filthy rented apartment, afraid to go outside.

Katya meets a lonely old man, Oleg Votchin, who lives on the eighth floor of her building. For a small fee, she begins walking his Yorkshire terrier, Antoinette. The old collector shows her his favorite wooden mermaid and tells her a village legend about its powers. Katya makes a wish to find a good job. She goes to an interview at the Eureka company, boldly locks herself in the management office, and demands a chance. She is hired as office manager.

The company’s director, Igor Koshelev, is preparing the company for a major tender. Andrey Kapitoshin, a customs specialist, helps Katya integrate into the team. She begins to feel attracted to Andrey. The chief accountant at Evrika is the elderly Emma Orlinkova — the same Faina.

Soon, Oleg Votchin is found murdered in his apartment. The mermaid vanishes without a trace from the collection. Katya finds the missing figurine at home. The toy is hidden in a dirty rag under the bathtub. Suspecting Artur of murdering her neighbor, Katya flees the apartment in terror. A group of hooligans chases her into the street. She manages to fight them off with a piece of a plastic ski and escapes into a residential area. She calls Andrey Kapitoshin. Andrey, Sergey Babkin, and his wife Masha take Katya to safety.

Babkin checks Katya’s husband against police databases. The truth comes out. Artur’s story about bandits is a blatant lie. In fact, Artur Ashotyan fatally struck a pedestrian on the highway and fled the scene. The family fled to Moscow, tricking Katya into providing for their secret existence. Upon learning the facts, Katya finally breaks off relations with her husband. Artur admits he didn’t kill Oleg Votchin. He was simply smoking on the balcony, heard someone’s quick footsteps, and found the mermaid, dropped on the stairs.

Meanwhile, Eureka loses the tender. Management realizes that one of its employees sold information to competitors. Sergey Babkin bluffs manager Yuri Shansky into confessing. Yuri Albertovich sold the company’s secrets out of dire need. His son, Nikita, had been hit by a car, and huge sums were needed to restore the young man’s disfigured face. Shansky was dismissed from the company in disgrace.

The solution and the ending

Makar Ilyushin travels to Kudryashovo and discovers the mermaid’s origins. He speaks with Natalya Kotik and establishes the Skovorodov brothers’ motive. The bandits who killed Makar’s girlfriend were trying to find this very wooden figurine. The younger Skovorodov sincerely believed it to be magical. The brothers mistakenly killed another Moscow collector, Zilberkant, and stole a similar figurine from his collection. The real mermaid always remained with Votchin. Skovorodov himself died several years ago at the hands of the alcoholic Mikhail Levushin, who also tried to recover the figurine.

Emma Orlinkova, while working at Eureka, heard Katya tell a story about an elderly neighbor and his wooden mermaid. The accountant immediately realized the old man was holding a treasured piece from her late first husband. Emma approached the collector, posing as the carver’s relative. She wanted to take the figurine, but the old man refused to hand over his talisman. Emma hit Votchin over the head twice with the heavy onyx statue and took the mermaid. While fleeing, she dropped the figurine on the dark staircase, where Arthur later picked it up.

The detectives expose Emma right in the hallway of the Eureka office. It’s impossible to bring her to trial legally due to the lack of direct, irrefutable evidence. Orlinkova understands everything herself. She declares that she always dreamed of being a princess, not a draft horse, but the mermaid was never hers. Emma quits and leaves forever.

Katya stays at the company. She finally moves out on her criminal husband and reciprocates Andrey Kapitoshin’s sincere feelings. Makar Ilyushin takes the wooden mermaid home with him. At a spring picnic, Kostya, Masha and Sergey’s son, asks to play with the beautiful toy. The boy accidentally drops the figurine into the Golubitsa River. A swift undercurrent carries the mermaid away forever into the murky depths of the pool.