How I Was Pinkerton: A Theatrical Detective

They say that talented people are talented in everything. Ranevskaya was not only a great actress and the author of many famous sharp jokes, aphorisms, and anecdotes—she also, it turns out, wrote wonderful prose and even illustrated it herself. This novel is her first attempt in the genre of comedic detective fiction, one that waited for publication for more than half a century. During the height of the Crimea tours of a celebrated theater, its leading lady—the main star of the USSR, Lyubov Pavlinova—disappears without a trace (an obvious nod to Lyubov Orlova, with whom Ranevskaya had complicated relations). What is it—an unfortunate accident or a premeditated murder? Who pushed the star overboard? And isn’t there, God forbid, any “politics” here? After all, Pavlinova is the favorite of the Leader, who planned to visit her personally for her benefit performance! If everyone from the troupe is under suspicion, when both the police and state security are powerless, the investigation is taken on by the most “unbearably” mischievous and mocking actress of the theater—an outspoken woman who is always put down “in the roles of old ladies” for her sharp tongue, and in whom it’s not hard to recognize Ranevskaya herself.