The Blue Cities

The “MediaBook” studio presents the audiobook “Blue Cities” — one of the famous works by the great Russian and Soviet writer Alexei Tolstoy. “The Red Count” — that’s what people called Soviet writer Alexei Nikolaevich, a former émigré and titled nobleman — managed not only to overcome all obstacles of the new regime, but also to become a favorite and the darling of Soviet power: Stalin Prizes and the writer’s comfortable life differed little in level of comfort from pre-revolutionary times. Alexei Tolstoy was also a personal friend of Joseph Stalin.

The book is narrated by popular performer and dubbing actor Oleg Novikov.

One of the witnesses, a student at an engineering school Semenov, gave unexpected testimony on the most vague, but — as it turned out later — key question in the entire investigation. What, at first acquaintance with the circumstances of the tragic night (from July 3 to July 4), had seemed unclear and mad — or perhaps a cunning simulation of madness — now became the key to all the answers.

The course of the investigation had to be rebuilt and led from the end of the tragedy toward this piece of cloth (three arshins by one and a half) nailed down at dawn on July 4 in the square of a county town to the telegraph pole.

The crime wasn’t committed by a madman — the interrogations and expert examination established that. Most likely, the culprit was in a state of extreme mental agitation. While nailing the cloth to the pole, he jumped down awkwardly, dislocated his leg, and lost consciousness. That saved his life — the crowd would have torn him to pieces. During the preliminary investigation interrogation, he was extremely agitated, but then the investigator of the GUBSUD found him calm and fully aware of what he had done.

Even so, from his answers it was impossible to build a clear picture of the crime — it broke apart into fragments. And only Semenov’s story glued all the pieces into one whole. Before the investigator, a passionate tale unfolded — a painful, impatient, feverish fantasy…