In 1901, St. Petersburg burned one thousand twenty-one times. 124 fires occurred from unknown causes. 32 of them, with their very unusual oddities, attracted the attention of the famous metropolitan reporter, Nikita Aristarkhovich Sushkin, and his friend, the district police officer of the Vasilievsk police department, Yuri Mikhailovich Mozhaisky. But is the investigation they have undertaken capable of sorting out absolutely everything? And what kind of investigation is this, during which the truth is not approaching, but only small and not very facts are multiplying, ridiculous and not very events are happening, and everything is cluttered so that a complete impression of chaos arises? Lieutenant Nikolai Vyacheslavovich Lyubimov tells the story.