The outstanding novel by Charles Palliser literally blew up the niche not only of the historical detective, but of the historical novel in General. It is one of the best examples of reconstruction of the atmosphere of the era and fine play with the canonical literary genre. We know from the Victorian detectives Collins and Conan Doyle that" good old " England was not so good. But in fact, it was much worse than even the most daring classics portrayed. England had such a bottom, such a wrong side, that they are able to surprise even sophisticated readers of the twenty-first century. Forced to go through all the circles of this hell, John Huffam gradually approaches the solution of the mystery that has haunted him since childhood. Secrets of the five clans, whose monstrous relationship tightly merged them in a mysterious ornament quincunx…