An interpreter has a nasty encounter that doesn't end well. A journalist falls to her death, which is ruled a suicide. Arkady and Victor keep an eye on things while a gangster with a bullet in his head is buried and his callow son takes over. Zhenya joins the army. Renk's sort-of-girlfriend is haning off the arm of the gangster's son. A notebook full of symbols has to be deciphered. All the usual mysteries and complications you expect from Renko, beleagured investigator in Putin's Russia, who doesn't get assigned cases any more, but just wanders into them almost by mistake. Excellent as always.