Summary of "The Mystery of Kutuzovsky Prospect" by Yulian Semyonov

Yulian Semyonov’s 1990 detective-political novel "The Mystery of Kutuzovsky Prospekt" explores the mysterious death of the renowned Soviet actress Zoya Fyodorova, murdered in her Moscow apartment in December 1981. The book is a gripping chronicle that connects the long-standing crimes of Stalin’s punitive organs with the emergence of the underground mafia during the period of stagnation. The narrative reveals the psychological mechanisms of fear and lust for power that permeated Soviet society at various stages of its history.

The work is part of a cycle about Moscow criminal investigation officer Vladislav Kostenko and ranks fifth. This literary cycle also includes the novels "Petrovka, 38," "Ogareva, 6," "Confrontation," and "Reporter." The work has never been officially adapted into a film or received any state awards.

The detective returns to an abandoned case

In the late 1980s, police colonel Vladislav Romanovich Kostenko retired. He spent his days in libraries, studying the press and pondering the socioeconomic changes in the country. Suddenly, near the library, he was approached by a stranger who introduced himself as Emil Valerievich Khrenkov from the Zarya cooperative. The persistent visitor offered the retired detective the chance to head the security service. Kostenko noticed a suspicious passenger in Khrenkov’s car and memorized the license plate number.

An investigation revealed that the car belonged to Polyakov, a pilot stationed abroad. Determined to solve the mystery, Kostenko traveled to Petrovka and retrieved files containing the archived case file on the murder of Honored Artist of the RSFSR Zoya Fyodorova. On a December day in 1981, the seventy-two-year-old actress was shot in the back of the head with a Sauer pistol in her home. The perpetrator entered without forcing a break-in, and valuables and money were left untouched.

The 1981 investigation was overseen by KGB Deputy Chairman Semyon Tsvigun and Interior Minister Nikolai Shchelokov. However, following Tsvigun’s mysterious death, the passing of Mikhail Suslov, and the assassination of General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev, the special task force was disbanded. The case was hushed up, and the detectives were transferred from Moscow to the provinces. Kostenko was sent to Uzbekistan and Kamchatka, Colonel Savitsky to Riga, and Colonel Pavlov to Tashkent.

A series of mysterious liquidations

Kostenko shows a sketch of Khrenkov to his old acquaintance, Mikhail Yastreb. Yastreb, a former convict, now runs a book kiosk. Yastreb recognizes the drawing as a former MGB investigator nicknamed Khrenkov. This man served time in the Sablansky prison camps for the brutal torture of prisoners. Yastreb recalls that Khrenkov visited Lyudmila Gruzdeva, the secretary of the Zarya cooperative.

Kostenko travels to Pereslavl-Zalessky to see retired General Ivan Ivanovich Trekhov, who participated in the rehabilitation of victims of the purges. Trekhov recalls the interrogations of former Chekist Sorokin and describes his sadistic tendencies. According to the general, Zoya Fyodorova was arrested after visiting Stalin with a petition on behalf of her repressed father. She was charged with espionage due to her connection with American military attaché Jackson Tate.

Returning to Moscow, Kostenko finds Mikhail Yastreb murdered in his kiosk. The perpetrator stabbed him in the neck with a sharpened awl and stole his phone book. A short time later, the body of Lyudmila Gruzdeva is discovered near Arkhangelskoye, struck by a car and inflicted a blow to her neck.

Expert Galina Mikhailovna determines that the awl is made of a rare, ultra-strong radio-space alloy mined in the Sablag mines. Traces of the same metal are found on tools from the cooperative garage where Polyakov’s car was being repaired. Soon after, the owner of the garage tools, a former Sablag prisoner named Okunev, drowned during a fishing trip.

The Secret Past of the Executioner Sorokin

Young Captain Andrei Vladimirovich Stroilov was appointed head of the new task force, and Kostenko was appointed as a freelance consultant. The captain’s father, Lieutenant General Ivan Ivanovich Stroilov, was implicated in the "Russian Case" in 1948 and subjected to brutal torture by investigator Sorokin.

Through flashbacks, the criminal’s biography is revealed. Yevgeny Vasilyevich Sorokin was raised in the family of a fanatical Stalinist shoemaker. After joining the NKVD, he reveled in his unlimited power over those arrested. Using sophisticated torture, Sorokin achieved his desired objectives. In 1946, he interrogated Fedorova, attempting to persuade her to collaborate with Beria.

After Stalin’s death, Sorokin was sentenced to fifteen years in a labor camp. In Sablag, he became friends with Shinkin, a major shadow economy figure. Together, they developed a system to protect their underground business. Upon his release, Sorokin took the documents of the deceased Emil Khrenkov and became head of security for the underground workshop syndicate.

In late 1981, Sorokin met Fedorova by chance at the Cinema House. Step by step, blackmailing her with recordings of old interrogations, he forced the actress to tape-record memories of the camps and meetings with party leaders. He planned to profitably sell these materials in the West under the pseudonym Emil Eisenberg. Fedorova’s meeting with people from Galina Brezhneva’s circle and her intention to file a lawsuit against her daughter’s father overseas precipitated the tragic outcome.

Fight with the underground syndicate

Kostenko and Stroilov discover that Sorokin established contacts with former theater administrator Iosif Davydov, now a US citizen named Joseph David. David acted as an intermediary between the Moscow mafia and foreign publishers preparing to publish a book about the Soviet underground business and the Fedorova case. Afghan war veterans, led by a disabled man named Igor, assist Kostenko in his investigation.

Suspecting a leak through his henchman, Isai Varenov, Sorokin orders the assassination of the witness and the elimination of Varenov. Varenov falls into the hands of criminal kingpin Dmitry Naletov, nicknamed "The Artist." Naletov beats Sorokin’s phone number out of him.

Wanting to neutralize the detectives, Sorokin sends his men to General Stroilov. The operatives set an ambush and apprehend the attackers. However, the stress he has endured triggers a fatal attack in the elderly general. Before his death, Stroilov Sr. manages to dictate and sign a report accusing Sorokin of sadism and coercion into treason.

Kostenko goes to Sheremetyevo Airport and intercepts Joseph David, who has just arrived from New York. During their conversation, Davidov admits his connection to "Eisenberg" and confirms that he brought contracts for the publication of manuscripts. Kostenko shows him photographs of the murdered witnesses, making it clear that the mafia will dispose of him immediately upon receiving the documents.

With the help of writer Boris Pshenkin, whom Sorokin hired to process his notes, the detectives locate the criminal’s secret apartment near the Belorussky railway station. Sorokin’s henchman, Nikodimov, attempts to eliminate Pshenkin but is ambushed by criminal investigation officers.

Finale and denouement

Sorokin understands that the situation around him is escalating. He is prepared to use a passport in Eisenberg’s name to travel to Germany via Berlin. However, law enforcement agencies are facing legal obstacles: Sorokin had previously filed false documents claiming schizophrenia at a psychiatric hospital, and procedural regulations make it difficult to immediately arrest him due to the lack of direct evidence.

Realizing that bureaucratic delays would allow the criminal to evade punishment and flee the country, Kostenko decides to bypass official channels. He contacts Shinkin, the head of the underground syndicate, by phone and provides him with Sorokin’s address. Kostenko warns the shop stewards that their security chief has collected incriminating material on the entire leadership of the shadow economy and intends to smuggle the secret manuscripts abroad.

Realizing that Sorokin has jeopardized the existence of the entire underground structure, the mafiosi send in their own operatives to conduct their own investigation. The novel concludes at Shinkin’s dacha in Kratovo. Retired Colonel Kostenko sits in the dark under the rain, clutching the wet grass with his fingers, agonizingly awaiting the sound of the gunshot that will draw a line under the decades-long crimes of Stalin’s executioner.