A summary of "Pelageia and the Black Monk" by Boris Akunin

A gripping historical detective story, published in 2001. The novel’s plot revolves around terrifying mystical phenomena on Blue Lake. The superstitious fears of the island’s inhabitants collide with the cold reason of a criminal who has acquired dangerous secrets of the universe. The book is part of the well-known detective series "Provincial Detective." Other works in this series include "Pelageia and the White Bulldog" and "Pelageia and the Red Rooster." This novel is the second installment in the adventures of the Trans-Volga nun.

Disturbing news from New Ararat

A frightened monk named Antipas from the New Ararat Monastery arrives in Zavolzhsk to see Bishop Mitrofan. The monastery is located on the islands of the vast Blue Lake. The monk reports the apparition of a ghost — the Black Monk. A tall figure in a pointed hood hovers above the water, threatening the Holy Basilisk Skete. The locals believe it is the spirit of the elder Basilisk himself. Mitrofan refuses to believe in ghosts. The bishop decides to send a young student, Alexei Lentochkin, to investigate. This talented young man is distinguished by a bold disposition, ostentatious nihilism, and a deep love of the exact sciences.

Failed expeditions to the island

Alexei Stepanovich writes letters to the bishop. At first, the young man’s attitude is ironic. New Ararat is thriving thanks to the commercial endeavors of Abbot Vitaly. The archimandrite has built a profitable farm there. On the main island of Canaan is a psychiatric hospital run by millionaire Donat Korovin. The doctor keeps his patients free. Lentochkin meets the island’s inhabitants and stalks a ghost at night. A skeptic sets up an ambush on the shore. He sees a black figure emitting a strange, frightening light.

After the second apparition, Alexei’s companion, a Moscow lawyer, dies of a stroke. Soon, Lentochkin himself goes mad. Dr. Korovin delivers unpleasant news to Mitrofaniy. The young man ran into the clinic naked, muttering Latin prayers. The patient has been diagnosed with severe raptus.

Mitrofaniy sends policeman Felix Lagrange to the island. The fearless colonel arrives in Ararat, having survived a dangerous shipwreck along the way. Lagrange interviews local residents and visits Korovin’s clinic. The police chief sees a distraught Lentochkin in the greenhouse. Lagrange decides to investigate the abandoned buoy keeper’s hut at night. It was there that the Black Monk had been frightening people. In the morning, the colonel is found shot to death. The situation looks like a classic suicide.

The bishop is devastated by the death of his faithful envoys. Now prosecutor Matvey Berdichevsky travels to the Blue Lake. The official examines the colonel’s body and notices significant discrepancies. The bullet channel points upward. Berdichevsky speaks with Archimandrite Vitaly. The abbot insults the prosecutor with anti-Semitic attacks. Matvey Bentsionovich meets Lev Nikolayevich, a strange patient of Korovin’s. That night, Berdichevsky goes to the cursed hut. There, an unknown assailant stuns the investigator with a blow to the head. The prosecutor awakens inside a cramped, boarded-up coffin. The horror he experienced drives the official mad. The madman is admitted to the seventh cottage of Korovin’s clinic, diagnosed with entroposis.

The pilgrimage of a Moscow noblewoman

Upon learning of the prosecutor’s fate, Bishop Mitrofaniy collapses with a massive heart attack. Nun Pelagia steals a large sum from the bishop’s casket and disguises herself in fashionable secular clothing. She buys a ticket on a steamship under the name of the widow Polina Lisitsyna. On the island, the supposed noblewoman donates five hundred rubles to the monastery. Father Vitaly complains to her about the St. Basilisk Skete. Schema-Abbot Israel has a dubious past as a notorious Moscow philanderer.

Lisitsyna secures an appointment with Dr. Korovin. The experienced doctor talks about his patients. The brilliant artist Yesikhin paints the walls of his cottage with scenes of nature. The physicist Lampe studies mysterious radiation. The actor Terpsichorov imagines himself as characters from classic books. Korovin arranges a dinner with Polina and another patient, Lydia Boreiko. The latter fancies herself the "Empress of Canaan." A heated argument ensues. Lisitsyna leaves the clinic into the darkness.

At night, Polina Andreyevna sneaks into the greenhouse. She feeds the feral, frozen Lentochkin. The boy is emaciated. Then Lisitsyna peers into the window of Berdichevsky’s cottage. The prosecutor is frightened by her dark silhouette. She crawls through the window and finds Lagrange’s hidden suitcase. As she leaves the cottage, Polina is attacked by the Black Monk. The criminal hits Lisitsyna on the head with a long wooden pole.

Exposing the criminal

In the morning, Polina wakes up with a huge bruise on her face. She buys a novice’s robe, introducing herself as young Pelagius. The young man hires the boatman Cleopas for a trip to the skete. Schema-Abbot Israel utters cryptic Latin phrases. The boy inspects the buoy keeper’s hut and finds hidden clues.

That evening, Polina Andreyevna changes back into women’s clothing. She is attacked by the crazed captain of the steamship, Jonah, who has long been in love with Lydia Boreiko. The sailor ties up Lisitsyna and throws her into the hold of an old barge. The ship begins to sink. The prisoner cuts her bonds with a knitting needle and breaks down the hatch with an iron crowbar. She escapes from Jonah. She is saved by the actor Terpsichorov, imagining himself to be Stavrogin. The madman beats the monk. Then the actor attempts to rape Polina himself. The timely arrival of Dr. Korovin prevents the violence.

Lisitsyna writes a long letter to Mitrofaniy. She suspects the physicist Lampe is the killer. The scientist allegedly found a meteorite containing radioactive uranium on Okolny Island. Lampe wanted to scare people away from the dangerous radiation. Polina sails to the island to finally expose the physicist.

Mitrofaniy, cured of his illness, arrives in Ararat. The bishop visits the insane Berdichevsky. A conversation with the bishop restores the prosecutor’s lost sanity. Korovin, Mitrofaniy, and Matvey Bentsionovich descend into the clinic’s basement. The physicist Lampe is working there. The scientist talks about a platinum-iridium meteorite impregnated with uranium pitchblende. Invisible radiation is killing the schema monks. Lampe did indeed frighten the residents, pretending to be a ghost with a lantern. However, the physicist didn’t kill anyone. The villain turns out to be someone else entirely. The bishop reads Pelagia’s letter and realizes her fatal mistake. The bishop rushes to his ward’s aid.

Okolny Island Dungeon

Polina enters a deep cave beneath the hermitage. There, the mummified remains of ancient monks lie piled high. Lisitsyna speaks with Schema-Abbot Israel. The elder sincerely repents for the sins of his youth and asks for the woman’s forgiveness. Then the heroine descends even deeper.

A glowing meteorite lies in a circular cave. The Black Monk works near it. Polina Andreyevna recognizes Alexei Lentochkin. The young man feigned insanity. Lentochkin read Lampier’s notes on uranium and platinum. The student decided to secretly acquire the precious metal. The meteorite weighs over three tons. The thief frightened the monks and killed bystanders. Alexei shot Colonel Lagrange with a stolen revolver.

Lentochkin intends to kill Lisitsyna with a diamond file. Elder Israel appears and strikes the criminal with his staff. Alexei kills the schema-abbot with a sharp blade. Polina draws a pistol and threatens the killer. The student distracts the nun and escapes through an underground corridor. Lisitsyna remains with the dying Israel. The elder asks for forgiveness and departs to the next world.

Boats dock at the island. Mitrofaniy rushes to the aid of his spiritual daughter. Meanwhile, Lentochkin sails away in a small skiff. The killer takes two kilograms of precious metal. The student dreams of world fame and his own scientific laboratory in America. The criminal wants to take the name Mister Basilisk.

Deadly radiation is already destroying Alexei’s young body. The young man suffers from excruciating nausea, and his hair is falling out. Invisible rays condemn the greedy fugitive to a quick, inevitable death.