By the beginning of the 19th century, the fur trade fabulously enriched the owners of the Russian-American Company. The new Russian oligarchs were hungry for power and did not hesitate in their means. But Count A.H. Benkendorf, who had barely taken over the affairs of the newly formed secret police, led one of the best detectives of St. Petersburg onto the bloody trail trailing behind the owners of the Golden Fleece. Now Grigory Konovitsyn must investigate the high-profile murder of two naval officers and bring the secret masters of the Empire to light. The cover design uses a fragment of the drawing "St. John's Wort" by Charles Edmund Brock (1870-1938).