"The Wolf’s Lair" by Anna Starobinets, summary

"The Wolf’s Lair" is the first book in the "Beastly Detective" series, published in 2018. It’s a children’s detective story set in an anthropomorphic forest world where animals live by laws that prohibit predators from preying on each other. The book’s uniqueness lies in its parodic detective form combined with the logic of a genuine investigation: false suspects, an alibi, a motive, and a psychological profile of the criminal.

The Far Forest and its inhabitants

The action takes place in the Far Forest — a supposedly civilized animal community with police, lawyers, a bar, a psychologist, and a root-visor. Law and order are maintained by two people: Badger Senior, an experienced, slightly tired police officer who periodically dreams of hibernating and forgetting everything, and Badgercat, his young partner. Badgercat is convinced he’s a badger, though the entire forest thinks he’s a cat: he paints the stripes on his face himself with black paint and erases them during the first rain.

Friday night at the "Suchok" bar is interrupted by terrible news: a breathless Magpie appears, carrying a piece of bloody gray fur on her tail. A hare — a resident of the Far Forest — has been killed and eaten right there in the clearing.

The first suspect is Wolf

At the crime scene, forensic expert Griff Vulture establishes the time of death as around nine o’clock in the evening. Tracks leading from the center of the clearing into the thicket are those of a wolf. The widow, Zaychikha, reports that Volk repeatedly threatened to kill her husband.

Badger and Badgercat immediately set off for the wolf’s lair. Wolf claims he spent the entire evening at home, eating mushrooms and watching the rootvisor — a broadcast of a football match where the squirrels of the Far Forest defeated the martens of the Near Forest. Badger Senior calmly catches him in his lie: the previous evening, the rootvisors weren’t working due to interference in the roots of the central oak tree. The alibi falls apart, and Wolf is arrested.

Suspicions are growing

Badger Senior isn’t convinced of Wolf’s guilt: the predator has no obvious motive to risk his freedom for a single meal. While Badgercat accepts congratulations at the "Suchok" bar for solving the case, Badger goes to Zaychikha with additional questions.

A starling with a phenomenal memory for voices lives in Zaychikha’s burrow — it reproduces every conversation it’s heard. Badger asks it to repeat Wolf’s threats, as recorded by the bird, and indeed hears a wolf’s voice threatening to kill. But when Badger tries a different keyword, the starling unexpectedly reproduces a completely different voice — the voice of Yota, the coyote, a waiter at the "Suchok" bar: "I’ll personally eat you whole with great pleasure! By the way, hare meat is delicious!"

Fox, a witness, tells Badger in the bar’s restroom that the previous evening, around 7:30, she ordered a grilled chicken and waited half an hour for Yot. When she went to the kitchen, neither the waiter nor the chicken were there. She picked up the scent and saw Yot walking toward the crime scene, muttering, "You’re finished, Hare. Well, Hare, you’re dead." Badger rushes to detain Yot, but he’s already disappeared from the bar.

Meanwhile, the lame Veteran Ferret informs Badger Senior that the sounds of renovations have been coming from Wolf’s lair all night. Badger discovers Hare, Muskrat with a team of construction workers, and the Owl Lawyers there: they have already begun remodeling the home, without waiting for a court ruling. It turns out that by law, the victim’s family has the right to the killer’s lair, and Hare is eager to claim it before winter sets in. Badger stops the renovations and seals the lair.

Interrogating a Coyote

Badgercat catches Yot in the bushes during a thunderstorm and arrests him. During interrogation, it turns out that Yot did indeed run to the hare’s hole that evening, threatening him. The reason: the hare owed him money and wasn’t repaying it. However, Psychologist Mouse, invited to draw up a psychological profile of the criminal, concludes that Yot is an animal with deep childhood trauma (his coyote parents were killed before his eyes), but doesn’t look like a murderer.

Beetle Jacques, who showed up with a white petal as a witness, reports that he saw Yot in a completely different place at the right time. Badger Senior reconstructs the chronology: Yot left the bar no earlier than eight, reached the rabbit hole about fifteen minutes later, spent another five minutes there, and then ran toward the clearing. This means he couldn’t have arrived at the crime scene before nine thirty-five, while Vulture estimated the time of death to be no later than nine thirty. Coyote physically couldn’t have made it.

Denouement

A psychologist draws a psychological portrait of a real criminal on birch bark with charcoal: a cunning creature, adept at disguise, masterfully playing the victim. A familiar, gentle face with long, soft ears stares out at the detectives from the bark — the Hare.

The motive becomes clear: by killing her husband and blaming the Wolf, the Hare woman gained the right to his spacious lair. She had hired the Owl Lawyers in advance — they showed up in the Far Forest on the evening of the murder. When Yot also came under suspicion, the Hare woman tried to demand additional free food from the "Suchok" bar.

Badgercat races to the hole, but Hare has already fled, leaving the cubs in the care of her cousin. Badger Senior is in no hurry — he calmly sips tea and cookies and reports that he believes Hare has headed for the Near Forest. That’s where they’ll go — but not until the day after tomorrow: tomorrow, Mole is coming to Badger to make a warm floor for hibernation. Badgercat looks at this imperturbable face and remains silent.