Портрет мертвой натурщицы

V Moskve pri strannykh obstoiatelʹstvakh ischezaiut devushki. Ne zvezdy, ne manekenshchitsy, ne dochki bankirov — a prodavshchitsy i uborshchitsy, neprivlekatelʹnye, polnovatye, s neudavsheĭsia lichnoĭ zhiznʹiu. A potom ikh obnaruzhivaiut v svoikh kvartirakh, no uzhe bezdykhannymi, so sledami udusheniia tonkim shnurom. I na tele kazhdoĭ zhertvy ėksperty nakhodiat starinnye ėskizy, podpisannye po-frantsuzski «Ingres». Ėngr — imia mėtra frantsuzskogo neoklassitsizma. No kak podlinnye ėskizy k genialʹnomu polotnu «Turetskie Bani» mogli popastʹ v ubogie khrushchevki na moskovskikh okrainakh? Vedʹ vse nabroski k velikoĭ kartine dolzhny nakhoditʹsia na rodine znamenitogo khudozhnika, v muzee Ėngra v Montobane! Parizhskaia prefektura proveriaet i… obnaruzhivaet podmenu. Delo ob ubiĭstve devushek pererastaet v prestuplenie mezhdunarodnogo masshtaba. Izoshchrennyĭ ubiĭtsa igraet s syshchikami v smertelʹnuiu igru, gde im prikhoditsia shag za shagom skladyvatʹ golovolomku, chtoby poniatʹ, chto sviazyvaet pogibshikh devushek iz Rossii i kumira frantsuzov — legendarnogo zhivopistsa Ėngra…Detektivy Darʹi Dezombre otlichaet nalichie tonkoĭ intrigi, misticheskikh taĭn i detalʹnogo ėkskursa v istoriiu, kulʹturu i iskusstvo. Nad kazhdoĭ novoĭ knigoĭ Dezombre rabotaet kropotlivo. Vossozdavaia proshloe, ona chitaet memuary, provodit mnogo chasov v bibliotekakh i muzeiakh, sobiraet fotografii odezhdy i predmetov proshlykh ėpokh iz semeĭnykh alʹbomov i zhurnalov.

In Moscow, girls disappear under strange circumstances. Not stars, not models, not bankers' daughters, but shop assistants and cleaners, unattractive, overweight, with a failed personal life. And then they are found in their apartments, but already lifeless, with traces of strangulation with a thin cord. And on the body of each victim, experts find antique sketches signed in French "Ingres". Ingres is the name of the master of French neoclassicism. But how could the original sketches for the ingenious painting "Turkish Baths" get into the squalid Khrushchev houses on the outskirts of Moscow? After all, all the sketches for the great painting should be in the homeland of the famous artist, in the Ingres Museum in Montauban! The Paris prefecture checks and... finds a substitution. The murder of the girls is turning into an international crime. A sophisticated killer plays a deadly game with detectives, where they have to piece together a puzzle step by step to understand what connects the dead girls from Russia and the French idol, the legendary painter Ingres... Daria Desombre's detectives are distinguished by the presence of subtle intrigue, mystical secrets and a detailed excursion into history, culture and art. Desombre works painstakingly on each new book. Recreating the past, she reads memoirs, spends many hours in libraries and museums, and collects photographs of clothes and objects from past eras from family albums and magazines.