Purely Russian Crime: The Loudest and Most Mysterious Criminal Cases of the 18th–20th Centuries

In the new audiobook by the well-known human-rights advocate and journalist Eva Merkacheva—the author of bestsellers “High-Profile Cases,” “The City Doomed,” and “Who in Russia Should Live Well”— you’ll hear about fascinating criminal cases, from those that thundered across all of Russia to those that were classified (until recently). It includes court proceedings from цар times, including trials of witches and poisoners.
For the first time, unique court materials related to Leo Tolstoy are published— the world judge, a juror, and… the accused of murder. You’ll learn about the trials of the executioner of Lieutenant Schmidt and about the high-profile case of inventor Ter-men—the inventor of the theremin; you’ll read about justice in besieged and post-besieged Leningrad, as well as about loud postwar court proceedings. The author painstakingly gathered materials about murders of Soviet citizens in peacetime that shook the whole country—such as the Ras*kin case, the terrorist attack at the Kotlyakovskoye Cemetery, and the mysterious death of an expedition on the Dyatlov Pass.
The audiobook also includes resonant cases of Joseph Brodsky about idleness, and the large family of the Ovechkins, who were charged with airplane hijacking in the 1980s. The audiobook is written in the genre of courtroom essays and contains unique archival materials, including illustrative ones—many of which were previously unpublished.