"The Icy Wind of Suomi" by Nikolai Svechin, summary Automatic translate

This book is a historical detective story, written in 2023. The plot unfolds in the Grand Duchy of Finland in the autumn of 1913. The text’s documentary basis deserves special attention. The author skillfully weaves criminal investigations with real facts, replete with intriguing descriptions of local life. The writer describes the covert militarization of Finnish separatists. The espionage games of German intelligence on the eve of World War II are revealed. The work draws on archival data on the creation of secret recruiting centers.

The novel won the prestigious Russian Detective literary award in 2024. The series of novels about Alexey Lykov will soon be adapted for the screen. A television series based on it, "Evil People," is expected to be released in 2025.

At the beginning of the story, Interior Minister Maklakov and senior police officials discuss a daring robbery. Cashier Heikki Rautapää stole two hundred and eighty-nine thousand rubles using forged postal telegrams. The money belonged to first-guild merchant Alexei Smirnov. At the meeting, it is decided to dispatch Alexei Lykov. The St. Petersburg detective enjoys unique authority among the Finns. Police Department Director Beletsky advises the hero to proceed with caution. The military demands that attention be paid to secret Suomi formations. Headquarters officers are concerned about a possible armed uprising.

The Murdered Cashier and the Secrets of the Separatists

In Helsinki, Jonas Ketola rejoices in his old friend. The Finn assigns the resourceful notary Vihtori Koskinen to assist the Russian. Lykov motivates the police with the promise of a huge commission from the defrauded Moscow manufacturer Smirnov. The detectives go to the provincial prison to interrogate Kustas Pylsyu. The cashier’s arrested accomplice readily cooperates. For the promised twenty thousand marks, the con man gives up the fugitive’s new address: a spacious house on Store Street in the Berghelm suburb. Lykov, Ketola, and Vihtori arrive at the scene. After forcing the door open, the police find Rautapää dead.

At the crime scene, detectives find an opened tin box. A note lies nearby. It reads: the cashier was killed by activists for refusing to donate stolen goods to the country’s independence. Ketola refuses to continue the search. He considers the case political and does not want to go against freedom fighters. Lykov is left alone, but he has doubts. He proves to the Finn that the box was broken by a master safecracker. Patriots don’t act that way. The Russian detective begins his own covert investigation. He goes to the headquarters of the Twenty-Second Army Corps. General Novikov, Lieutenant Colonel Kazantsev, and counterintelligence officer Nasnikov serve there.

The military introduces Lykov to counterintelligence agent Kles Liikanen. The Finn works as the executive director of the Moss Culture Society and also serves as treasurer of the Moscow branch of the Freedom Union. Kles confirms the detective’s suspicions. The activists did indeed hire Bobyl to recover the stolen money. However, the mercenary deceived his clients, stabbed the cashier, and fled. The informant reports extremely disturbing news. Separatists have developed routes for smuggling young people to Germany and Sweden. The students will travel there through secret transit points in the border towns of Kemi and Vyborg. They will undergo military training at the Lokstedt camp. The volunteers will become officers for the future Finnish rebel army.

Hunting for the traitor and the bandits

The Baltic Fleet’s counterintelligence is tracking enemy radio stations in the skerries. German spies are recruiting border guard clerks. Russian officers are playing a complex game, recruiting retired enlisted men from Russian regiments. Reserve Sergeant Major Loshadkin runs a fictitious spy network. Salesman Porfiry Alemasov is planting disinformation in the Oyaly store. Enemy agents are given false maps of Baltic Sea minefields. The papers bear the signature of the Baltic Fleet commander, Admiral Essen. Lykov simultaneously exposes a traitor at military headquarters. Captain Balitsky copies secret documents for the enemy. The spy spends his earnings on his frivolous mistress, Impi Ruuta. The traitor is caught right at his workplace.

Ambush in Abo

Ketola uses the pattern of the crimes to identify the true killer. Antti Tuominen, nicknamed Bobyl, is known for his incredible cruelty. He strangled a guard and escaped from the Åbo penal prison. The detective and the notary travel to Åbo. The prison warden helps them interrogate Kalevi Inkinen. The convict agrees to turn in Bobyl for a reward. He sends the police to a vacant lot near the port branch. The tip turns out to be a trap. In the darkness, two men attack the Russian. Lykov falls backward and fires at the sound. He kills one of the attackers. It is Vaska Turov, the detective’s old Sakhalin foe. Bobyl cowardly flees.

Returning to the capital, the St. Petersburg resident contacts the financier Marchenko. A ministry representative secretly inspects the rented safe deposit boxes. It soon becomes clear that Tuominen has already withdrawn the deposits. General Novikov organizes the interception of telegraph messages. The officers locate a new hiding place: Valman’s hat shop on Georgievskaya Street. Lykov takes Governor-General Zein’s order and calls in an armed patrol. Kazantsev translates the order to the frightened visitors to clear the premises. An iron cash register is found in the owner’s office. The soldiers confiscate two hundred and seventy thousand rubles in hundred-ruble notes. The funds are confiscated for return to the rightful owner.

The destruction of Illivi’s gang

Left without loot, Tuominen joins Konstu Illievi’s gang in Åbo. Lykov and Vihtori sail there again by steamer, through the beautiful skerries. The local police respond to a false alarm and head to a neighboring town. A crowd of twenty armed patriots surrounds the bandits’ house on Österlånggatan. The criminals push the traitor Bobyl out into the street without resistance. The activists immediately stab him to death for stealing party funds. Vihtori refuses to save the murderer. When the avengers escape, the detectives boldly storm the gang’s hideout. Lykov enters the wooden house through the back door and calmly shoots three of the lucky ones. Vihtori wounds the leader Illievi, but is shot in the elbow. The constables tie up the surviving bandits.

The case is successfully closed. The St. Petersburg resident fulfills his promise to his Finnish colleagues. From the grateful merchant’s personal funds, he gives Ketola two thousand rubles. Koskinen receives a thousand. With this money, the detectives buy powerful motorboats. As a sign of reconciliation, they give the Russian a traditional puukko knife and a rare pearl necklace. Having fulfilled the minister’s order, the state councilor attends the celebrations for the Day of the Knights of St. George. The banquet is held at the assembly hall of the Third Rifle Regiment. Soon after, the detective boards a train and travels home to St. Petersburg.