Past Affairs

In the spring of 1884, the heavy, dark ice finally broke up on the Neva—late. A cold, damp wind began to batter the shores and shallows with hideous bloated corpses. This time there were simply an enormous number of them. However, the police of St. Petersburg quickly—and without a shadow of doubt—found causes: drowning by carelessness, in a state of intoxication, or while unconscious. Tragic accidents happen—what can you do…

Deputy Director of the Police Department Pavel Afanasyevich Blagovo does not agree with the official viewpoint. Together with Aleksey Lykov, he obtains permission for a second examination of the body of a certain innkeeper, Ostashkov, who, supposedly, while drunk, had fallen into the river. The results of the water analysis in the dead man’s lungs shock Blagovo…

The book consists of five novellas that take the reader back to the time of Lykov’s youth—and while Blagovo is still alive.