The Manuscript  is a part of the Riga Detective (Rīgas detektīvs) series, but can be read as a standalone work. It concentrates on the behind–the-scenes aspects and intrigues of being a writer, exploring Riga in the late 20th century, its society, events, and processes. The most valuable manuscripts of the Latvian Writers Union, unpublished during the Soviet years, had been kept by Professor Brants, found by investigators drowned in his bathtub. In his drawer, they find a 1987 obituary for Jānis Paiders, but the famous author Nora Paidere’s unpublished novel With the Mark of Cain (Kaina zīmē) has disappeared from Professor Brants’ library. Her novel reveals a secret involving all of the main characters of The Manuscript – Alīse the librarian; Ilze the professor’s daughter; the publisher, and we learn over the course of the novel, the informeant Aigars Kalniņš, too; Nora Paidere’s son – the unappreciated translator Jēkabs Paiders; editor Aija Rozenberge, who like Professor Brants, has also been drowned. Andrejs Vanags, a lawyer, begins a thrilling investigation and discovers that Jānis Paiders, once a brilliant poet and a rising star during the Soviet years who died under mysterious circumstances, is the son of Nora and Professor Brants. As he starts to make sense of this puzzle, the trail ends up leading to Aigars Kalniņš.

Contacts: Renāte Neimane, renate.neimane@latvijasmediji.lv