"Easy Steps of Madness" by Polina Dashkova, summary

This action-packed detective novel was written in 1997. The plot revolves around the investigation of a series of murders, the roots of which go back to events fourteen years earlier, when a brutal maniac operated in the Siberian outback, and an innocent man was executed for the crimes he committed.

Background and Strange Death

In March 1996, Moscow journalist Elena Polyanskaya learned from her close friend Olga Sinitsyna of a tragedy: Olga’s brother, thirty-four-year-old bard and guitar teacher Dmitry, was found hanged in his apartment. The police closed the case as a suicide due to drug-induced psychosis, as syringes were found in the apartment and injection marks were left on the deceased’s arm. However, Olga and Lena disbelieved the official version. Dmitry had never used drugs, although his wife, Ekaterina, suffered from severe addiction.

Another oddity soon emerges: at the funeral, Lena notices needle marks and scratches on Dmitry’s right hand, even though he was right-handed. Before a long assignment in London, Lena’s husband, Interior Ministry Colonel Sergei Krotov, advises her not to look for crime where it doesn’t exist. Meanwhile, the murder of pop singer Yuri Azarov, the lover of model Veronika Rogovets, is under investigation. Investigator Mikhail Sichkin discovers that Rogovets had been seeing renowned psychotherapist Regina Valentinovna Gradskaya, the wife of Veniamin Volkov, head of the Veniamin show company.

Ekaterina Sinitsyna’s attending physician, Regina Gradskaya, arrives at night. Shortly thereafter, Ekaterina dies in a fire in her locked apartment, having not before phoned Lena to inform her about the disappearance of her husband’s diary and the strange note found in his jacket, mentioning long-ago events in Tobolsk.

Dramatizations and old shadows

Secrets of the past are gradually being revealed. In 1982, Lena Polyanskaya, Olga, and Dmitry Sinitsyn traveled to the Tyumen region on a Komsomol mission to work for a youth magazine. They were accompanied by Veniamin Volkov, head of the culture department of the Tobolsk city committee of the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League. At the same time, brutal murders of young girls were occurring in the region. Volkov, who had suffered from an irresistible urge for violence since his youth, committed these crimes in secret, concealing the evidence. During a nighttime picnic on the banks of the Tobol River, he stabbed another victim to death and returned to the campfire with a bloody sweater, lying that he had a nosebleed.

Volkov later met a young psychiatrist, Regina Gradskaya, who worked at the Serbsky Institute. Understanding the nature of his illness, she subjugated him with hypnosis and helped fabricate evidence against Nikita Slepak, a chronic alcoholic. Slepak was sentenced to death, and the only investigator who doubted his guilt, Igor Zakharov, died under mysterious circumstances. Over the past fourteen years, Regina has undergone complete plastic surgery in Switzerland, transforming herself from an ugly woman into a beautiful woman, and together with Volkov, she has built a powerful show business empire.

Dmitry Sinitsyn, seeing Volkov on television and remembering the night on Tobol, tried to speak to him, then called him a murderer at a social event in the presence of the singer Azarov. Fearing exposure, Regina arranged for Dmitry to be assassinated by Vasily Slepak, the son of the executed Nikita Slepak, in a staged hanging. Azarov was then assassinated, and later, Ekaterina died from a fatal dose of morphine and a fire.

Regina also tries to eliminate Lena. First, she comes to her house disguised as the local pediatrician, then plants an explosive device in a baby stroller outside. The explosion occurs prematurely due to an accidental collision with a stranger’s car, and Lena and her two-year-old daughter, Lisa, miraculously survive.

Investigation in Siberia and abduction

Realizing the impending danger, Lena sends her daughter with her elderly neighbor, Vera Fyodorovna, to a boarding house near Moscow, while she agrees to accompany American professor Michael Barron on a trip to Siberia. Before leaving, she is intercepted by Veniamin Volkov. It turns out the producer has been harboring a morbid passion for her all these years and is now ready to abandon his wife and business for Lena. To buy herself time and save herself, Lena pretends to reciprocate his feelings.

In Tyumen, Lena and Michael are being followed by local crime boss Kudryashov, nicknamed "Kudryash." Regina Gradskaya misinforms the crime boss, convincing him that the American professor is connected to the secret services and is threatening his business. Lena is being protected by FSB officer Alexander Volkovets, posing as a private driver.

Lena visits Vasily Slepak’s mother and aunt, learning about the woman who planted evidence in their home in 1982. Then, in Tobolsk, she finds investigator Zakharov’s mother, who confirms that an unknown woman confiscated her deceased son’s work diaries. Later, at the Veterans’ Home, Lena meets Regina Gradskaya’s elderly mother and sees Regina’s graduation photo, before her plastic surgery. The puzzle finally comes together.

Kudryash’s men kill FSB Major Nikolai Ievlev, who was accompanying Lena, and kidnap the journalist herself and take her to a country base in the taiga. Barron is evacuated to Moscow. Kudryash interrogates Lena, blackmailing her with a video recording of her daughter at the boarding house. Lena reveals the truth to the crime boss: Regina is manipulating him, trying to cover up her maniac husband’s long-standing crimes. Kudryash decides to spare Lena’s life in order to use her as a tool for blackmail and the takeover of the multimillion-dollar Veniamin concern.

The denouement in the taiga and the finale

Sergei Krotov, returning from England, and his colleague Mikhail Sichkin rescue his daughter and neighbor from a boarding house just minutes before Kudryash’s men arrive, hiding the family in a remote dacha.

In Siberia, Regina hires Vasily Slepak to assassinate Lena. The killer infiltrates Kudryash’s secure base, cuts the power to the house, and instead of killing her, orchestrates Polyanskaya’s escape, remembering that many years ago she selflessly helped him publish his poetry in a magazine. During the escape, a fight ensues; Slepak eliminates the guards but is wounded.

Slepak and Lena make their way through the snowy taiga to an abandoned Old Believer dugout. There, Lena uses a knife to remove a bullet from the killer’s shoulder. Vasily confesses to murdering Dmitry Sinitsyn on Gradskaya’s orders. Having learned from Lena that Regina was the one who killed his father, the killer decides to take revenge on her. They continue through the snowstorm to the railway line, where Lena collapses. Slepak leaves her in a trackman’s cabin, covering her with a quilted jacket and leaving behind some chocolate, and he disappears. Soon, the unconscious woman is found by a helicopter carrying a search party led by Sergei Krotov.

In Moscow, Regina learns that Volkov intends to transfer his capital to Switzerland and join Polyanskaya, while Kudryash uncovers the concern’s shadow accounting. Realizing the empire is crumbling, Regina slips a poison, undetectable, into her husband’s morning coffee. Volkov dies of sudden cardiac arrest while driving his car, delivering a bouquet of roses to the airport to meet Lena.

An official autopsy ruled the producer’s death non-violent. Regina appeared on live television, hypocritically mourning her husband and announcing his latest musical project. The mogul Kudryash watched from his villa, admitting defeat in this game. Late that evening, Regina’s black executive car drove away from the Ostankino television center. A nondescript car followed closely behind, driven by Vasily Slepak, preparing to carry out his personal and unpaid sentence.