This collection is, in a way, an illustration of the essay “Geography of Evil” from the research book “Everyday Life of St. Petersburg’s Detective Police.” The book was written by three well-known authors of historical detective stories: Nikolai Svechin, Valery Vvedensky, and Ivan Pogonin. Its framework didn’t allow the capital’s “bottom” to be portrayed in detail. And readers felt a shortage of how those outcasts of brilliant St. Petersburg lived—and survived. Fortunately, there were sketches from life, talented and reliable. They were made at the time by N. Zhivotov, N. Sveshnikov, N. Karabchevsky, A. Bakhtiarov, and Vsevolod Krestovsky. We offer you these forgotten texts. Karabchevsky was a famous lawyer; Sveshnikov—no less famous drunkard and thief. Vsevolod Krestovsky doesn’t need introductions even now. The rest were journalists and chroniclers of everyday life. After reading their sketches, you’ll better understand the realities of the detectives of that time—and of those swindlers too…