A Night in the Cemetary: And Other Stories of Crime and Suspense

by Anton Chekhov

The English-language debut of Anton Chekhov's immortal collection of crime and mystery stories. Considered one of the greatest dramatists of all time, Anton Chekhov began his literary career as a crime and mystery writer. Published in periodicals and literary journals from 1880—1890, these early psychological suspense stories provide a fresh look into Chekhov's literary heritage and his formative years as a writer.

In stories like "A Night in the Cemetery," "Night of Horror," and "Murder," not only will Chekhov's dark humor and twisted crimes satisfy even the most hardboiled of mystery fans, but readers will again appreciate the penetrating, absurdist insight into the human condition that only Chekhov can bring. Whether it is the death of a young amateur playwright at the hands of an editor who hates bad writing, or a drunken civil servant who ends up trapped in a graveyard, these stories overflow with the unforgettable characters and unique sensibility that will forever make Chekhov one of the most fascinating figures in literature.

Listening Length: 10 hours and 14 minutes
Version: Unabridged

Genres: Short Stories, Classics, Fiction, Mystery, Russia, Crime, Russian Literature

Audiobook

First published January 1, 1890

About the author

Antón Chéjov (Spanish)

Dramas, such as The Seagull (1896, revised 1898), and including "A Dreary Story" (1889) of Russian writer Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, also Chekov, concern the inability of humans to communicate.

Born ( Антон Павлович Чехов ) in the small southern seaport of Taganrog, the son of a grocer. His grandfather, a serf, bought his own freedom and that of his three sons in 1841. He also taught to read. A cloth merchant fathered Yevgenia Morozova, his mother.

"When I think back on my childhood," Chekhov recalled, "it all seems quite gloomy to me." Tyranny of his father, religious fanaticism, and long nights in the store, open from five in the morning till midnight, shadowed his early years. He attended a school for Greek boys in Taganrog from 1867 to 1868 and then Taganrog grammar school. Bankruptcy of his father compelled the family to move to Moscow. At the age of 16 years in 1876, independent Chekhov for some time alone in his native town supported through private tutoring.

In 1879, Chekhov left grammar school and entered the university medical school at Moscow. In the school, he began to publish hundreds of short comics to support his mother, sisters and brothers. Nicholas Leikin published him at this period and owned Oskolki (splinters), the journal of Saint Petersburg. His subjected silly social situations, marital problems, and farcical encounters among husbands, wives, mistresses, and lust; even after his marriage, Chekhov, the shy author, knew not much of whims of young women.

Nenunzhaya pobeda , first novel of Chekhov, set in 1882 in Hungary, parodied the novels of the popular Mór Jókai. People also mocked ideological optimism of Jókai as a politician.

Chekhov graduated in 1884 and practiced medicine. He worked from 1885 in Peterburskaia gazeta.

In 1886, Chekhov met H.S. Suvorin, who invited him, a regular contributor, to work for Novoe vremya, the daily paper of Saint Petersburg. He gained a wide fame before 1886. He authored The Shooting Party , his second full-length novel, later translated into English. Agatha Christie used its characters and atmosphere in later her mystery novel The Murder of Roger Ackroyd . First book of Chekhov in 1886 succeeded, and he gradually committed full time. The refusal of the author to join the ranks of social critics arose the wrath of liberal and radical intelligentsia, who criticized him for dealing with serious social and moral questions but avoiding giving answers. Such leaders as Leo Tolstoy and Nikolai Leskov, however, defended him. "I'm not a liberal, or a conservative, or a gradualist, or a monk, or an indifferentist. I should like to be a free artist and that's all..." Chekhov said in 1888.

The failure of The Wood Demon , play in 1889, and problems with novel made Chekhov to withdraw from literature for a period. In 1890, he traveled across Siberia to Sakhalin, remote prison island. He conducted a detailed census of ten thousand convicts and settlers, condemned to live on that harsh island. Chekhov expected to use the results of his research for his doctoral dissertation. Hard conditions on the island probably also weakened his own physical condition. From this journey came his famous travel book.

Chekhov practiced medicine until 1892. During these years, Chechov developed his concept of the dispassionate, non-judgmental author. He outlined his program in a letter to his brother Aleksandr: "1. Absence of lengthy verbiage of political-social-economic nature; 2. total objectivity; 3. truthful descriptions of persons and objects; 4. extreme brevity; 5. audacity and originality; flee the stereotype; 6. compassion." Because he objected that the paper conducted against [a:Alfred Dreyfu

Reviews

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 1886, celebrated Russian author Dmitry Grigorovich wrote a letter to the 26 year-old Anton Chekov, complimenting the young author on his talent and advising him to slow down and concentrate on the quality of his writing.

Chekov – a physician and part-time writer who was then making more money by writing than by practicing medicine -- was thunderstruck by the weight of the compliment and admitted that he had previously written his stories in a mechanical fashion, like that of a dispassionate journalist rather than an emotionally involved writer. The young doctor/writer took Grigorovich’s advice seriously and the following year he won the coveted Russian Pushkin Prize for his collection of short stories, “At Dusk.” He went on to become one of Imperial Russia’s most celebrated writers.

The journalistic tone of Chekhov’s pre-fame stories – many of them murder mysteries -- is completely understandable when one considers that for a time, Chekhov worked for the police as a medic in criminal investigations. However, the tone in many of these early stories featured in “A Night in the Cemetery,” collected and translated by Russian scholar, Peter Sekirin, is anything but serious.

For instance, one tale takes readers on an elaborate and length search for clues in a murder case only to discover the victim alive and well at the end of the tale. Another portrays a prosecuting attorney who “was like many of his kind: he spoke nasally, could not pronounce the letter “k” and blew his nose constantly.” He was no match for the skilled defense attorney in the story whose “kind . . . plays a key role in those cheap novels that end in a guilty verdict for the protagonist and the applause of the public.” The skilled defense attorney so powerfully plays at the emotions of an entire courtroom regarding the “humanity” of the accused man that the accused jumps up and confesses his guilt.

Many of the stories are obviously just writing exercises or sketches, yet even these are often well-crafted and hilarious in a wry, Chekovian sort of way. The initial paragraph of “What You Usually Find in Novels,” a sketch which barely fills two pages, reads: “A duke, a duchess who used to be a beautiful woman, a rich man who lives next door, a left-wing novelist, and impoverished nobleman, a foreign musician, various servants: butlers, nurses, and tutors, a German estate manager, a gentleman, and an heir from America.”

The last paragraph is significantly shorter: “Seven moral sins at the beginning, a crime in the middle, and a wedding at the end.”

The stories collected in “A Night in the Cemetery” aren’t necessarily the work of a master craftsmen but it’s obvious that their author was well on his way to becoming just that. This collection is a fascinating read to anyone interested in the evolution of a literary master and also provides a close-up (if extremely wry) glimpse of Imperial Russia.

[Brenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wonderful collection of short stories. Interesting and entertaining, as well as funnier than we commonly associate with Russian literature. For anyone who wants to start getting into Russian literature, short stories are a good way to go (being less intimidating than tomes like The Brothers Karamozov or Anna Karenina) and this book would be a good start.

[Angie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stopped reading about half way through because I was getting a bit tired of the short story format...but all the stories were quite entertaining. Who knew a Russian could be so funny!

[Terence · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've never read Anton Chekhov. I can't read Russian, alas, so I only know him through the lenses of his translators. Unfortunately, the lens of Peter Sekirin is not very good IMO. I get the impression that he's translating nearly word for word and literally, which means that something that's probably perfectly clear and appropriate in Russian is clumsy and nonsensical in English. Sekirin also doesn't have an ear for rendering the Russian into elegant English; it's serviceable but not great.

It doesn't help that the editing is distressingly amateurish. (As I believe I've mentioned in other postings, I'm an editor by trade. While allowances can be made for entries in private journals or on social media sites like GR, it galls me that a professionally published volume includes gaffs like writing "desk" when the author is clearly talking about a ship's "deck." Not once, but twice!)

The subtitle of this collection is And Other Stories of Crime & Suspense but anyone picking up this book expecting the mystery genre will be sorely disappointed. Yes, murder and thefts occur - quite often, in fact - but Chekhov couldn't care less about them except as they expose the motivations and lives of his characters. Only "Swedish Match" and the last three stories in the collection would I classify as being anywhere close to a traditional crime or suspense story.

In spite of all that, we're still talking Chekhov, and poorly translated Chekhov is still better than a lot of first-language authors out there. There are some gems in here, though only two that I recognized from previous collections - "Thieves," which I first read under the title "The Robbers," and "Evildoer," aka "The Malefactor."

Highlights:
"A Thief" - A tale about an exile whose wife unexpectedly arrives at the Siberian village he's living in but with a twist.
"Evildoer" - A story about the intersection of village life and needs with the modern world.
"75 Grand" - Another ironic tale about a man, his wife, his mistress and a lottery ticket.
"The Wallet" - Three actors find a wallet and enact the requisite tragedy to the edification of the reader.
"Assignment" - An amusing tale about the fulfillment of any famous author's wish when he's trapped by the talentless but clueless writer into listening to that one's work.
"Dreams" - Another look at the hopes (often futile) of the Russian peasant.
"Thieves" - Not sure how to describe this one. When I first read it as "The Robbers," the final scene of the burning inn and the reaction of the protagonist stayed with me. It's one of Chekhov's bleakest visions IMO.
"Murder" - This is another particularly bleak vision about a murderer finding his faith again but unable to act upon it.
"The Drama at the Hunt" - I don't know whether it's the translator's fault or the Russian is equally obscure but this is an attempt to explore the possibilities of the "unreliable narrator." At the end, the translator loses control of the narrative and it gets hopelessly confusing.

[Rafael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great mystery book. Lots of good laughs and some stories have a twist ending.

[Leo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the writing style in this book, some story's standed out more then others. But I'm not really much for a bunch of short stories at once. Didn't get into a story fast enough and when I did it was time for another. But I will absolutely read more by Anyone Chekhov

[Brennan Wieland · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Evildoer:

A man/peasant is in court room, and he is being accused of having sabotaged a portion of train track near his home. The only evidence was a nut that he had taken from the tracks to use as a weight for his fishing line, which he said that everyone did, and only an unexperienced fisherman would not know to do. While the man seems innocent enough, the judge does not rule in his favor, and he is sentenced to prison.

You are left having to decide on your own whether or not you think that the man was fairly sentenced. I didn't think he was, but only if he was was telling the truth and everyone had been doing the exact same thing, and he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Also, the judge didn't seem to base his sentence on the trial that was going on. There seemed to be an underlying reason why he disregarded everything that the man had said.

[Peter Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

really
great reads
mystery and crime stories
bya wonderful writer

[Marina M.frazer · Rating 5 out of 5]

These is the first collection of great suspense and
mystery stories by one of the the world's greatest
short story writers and playwrights.

From the "Preface:"

While the plays and novellas by Anton Chekhov are
known and loved the world over, it will come as a
surprise to many to learn that he actually began his
career as a crime and mystery writer. He had always been fond
of the genre, and during his mid-twenties, he began writing
suspense stories as a hobby while in still in medical school at
Moscow University. His first story, “What is Met in the
Novels,” was published shortly thereafter in Dragonfly Magazine.

As befitting Chekhov’s exceptional style and sensibilities,
he letter he received from the editors at Dragonfly on January
13, 1880 began jump-started his writing career in an equally
absurdist way: “This isn’t bad at all. We will publish the material
you sent us. Best blessings to you and your future work.”
He continued to write suspense stories as a young doctor, eventually
segueing into the more “literary” forms from which
cemented his place in literary history, returning to the crime
and mystery genre at the end of his life.

From 1881-1883, Chekhov lived in Moscow and continued
to study medicine at the university. He wrote many humorous
crime stories for Dragonfly, Spectator and Alarm-Clock magazines,
including “The Swedish Match” and “Night of Horror.”
His stories were very popular, and a close friend mentioned in
his memoirs that since Chekhov was so prolific, his writing was
main source of income for his entire family. His attention to his
formal studies, however, never wavered, and he continued to
excel in the classroom and clinic. (M Chelnov, “Chekhov and
Medicine.” Russian News, 1906). If anything, Chekhov was
able to use his medical knowledge to supplement his literary
pursuits—his thorough knowledge of anatomy recurs again and
again throughout this collection as various police and detectives
sort their way through every kind of murderous mystery.

Chekhov graduated from medical school in 1884, and moved
to the countryside outside of Moscow as a practicing family
doctor. In January 1885, he wrote to his brother, Mikhail
Chekhov, betraying mixed feelings about his current profession.
“Medicine is all right. I continue treat sick patients . . . I have a
lot of friends, many of whom also seem to need medical care, and
of course I treat half of them for free.” In another letter later that
month, he writes “Sick patients bore me to death. I had several
hundred patients this summer, and made only one ruble.” Fortunately,
life soon became more interesting out in the villages, as
Chekhov began to accompany the local police on criminal investigations
and perform autopsies for them. Many of stories from
1884-1886 now feature a doctor or medic assisting the detective
as the main protagonist, most notably in “Drama at the Hunt,”
“The Dead Body” and “Double Murder.”

In 1886, Dmitry Grigorovich, a prominent writer now in his
mid-seventies and a close personal friend of literary luminaries
like Ivan Turgenev, Leo Tolstoy, Nikolai Nekrosov and Fyodor
Dostoevsky, wrote a letter to Chekhov, expressing admiration
for his literary talents. Grigorovich passed Chekhov’s stories
around to his various acquaintances, and Chekhov’s star continued
to rise in the Russian literary world, publishing several
more of his stories in The St. Petersburg Daily, a prominent
national paper.

As his reputation grew, friends and critics encouraged
Chekhov to move away from these short crime and suspense
pieces and focus on “big” literature. In a letter dated August 9,
1886, journalist M. Remezov wrote “I think, the time has come
for you to write serious, lengthy stories, and claim your place in
literature.” Taking this advice to heart, Chekhov became more
and more entrenched in literary society, establishing close
friendships with Leo Tolstoy and composer Peter Tchaikovsky.

He staged his first play, “Ivanov,” later that year. But he was not
quite ready to give up the mystery genre entirely. He published
three collections of his crime stories between 1886 and 1889,
and wrote twenty more new stories. Most of these stories were
scattered throughout a variety of periodicals (see Annotated
Table of Contents), and until now have managed escaped the
notice of contemporary translators and editors.

The year 1889 was a watershed in Chekhov’s life and career.
Following the subsequent deaths of his father and his brother
Nikolai, Chekhov traveled throughout Siberia, visiting Russian
prisons and observing village life in the easternmost parts of the
country. His travels took him through the Volga Valley, Perm,
Tiumen, Tomsk, Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, Khabarovsk, and
Sakhalin. He kept an extensive diary, complete with detailed


sketches and interviews of hundreds of offices and inmates from
the notorious Sakhalin prisons. Upon his return, this diary was
serialized in the newspaper The New Time under the title From
Siberia, and was his darkest published piece to date. In a letter
to his publisher, Anton Suvorin, he wrote “I have been in
northern Sakahlin for two months . . . I don’t know what will
come of this, but it will be big. I have enough here for three
books. Everyday, I got up at 5am and went to bed late and
stressed, as there are many things I have yet to do. . . . There is
not a single prisoner out of the several thousand here, nor is
there a settler in Sakhalin with whom I haven’t spoken to.” In
December of 1890, following his return to Moscow, Chekhov
wrote several more, darker, crime stories, but this would be the
last of such stories for many years, as he turned his focus to theater
and more literary short stories.

Needless to say, Chekhov’s plays and short fiction pieces met
with great success, and it is for these that he is best remembered.
As he neared the end of his short life, Chekhov began to move
away from theater and spent more and more time writing
longer novellas. He married actress Olga Knipper and won several
prestigious literary prizes, and as he wrote his novellas, he
came full circle and turned back to the mystery and suspense
genre that jumpstarted his whole career. These crime and suspense
stories are an important part of Chekhov’s literary
journey, and even at this early stage in his literary career, his
unique absurdist sensibilities, so beloved in his plays and
novellas, are evident in raw form and are a compelling addition
to the Chekhov canon.


Table of Contents:

A NIGHT AT THE CEMETERY 1
WHAT YOU USUALLY FIND IN NOVELS 6
THE SWEDISH MATCH 8
A NIGHT OF HORROR 35
WILLOW 45
A THIEF 51
THE ONLY WAY OUT 57
AN EXPENSIVE DOG 61
CURVED MIRROR 65
A COURT CASE 69
THE BROTHER: A SLICE OF LIFE 73
A CONFESSION 76
IN THE DARKNESS OF THE NIGHT 81
THE INTENTIONAL DECEPTION 83
ON THE SEA: A SAILOR’S STORY 88
IVAN THE CABMAN 93
PERPETUAL MOBILEV 97
EVILDOER 107
DEATH OF AN OFFICE WORKER 113

75 GRAND 117
AT THE CEMETERY 124
THE CONVERSATION OF A MAN WITH A DOG 128
THE WALLET 132
A DEAD BODY 136
TOO MUCH TALKING! 142
CONVERSATION OF A DRUNKEN MAN
WITH A SOBER DEVIL 148
PSYCHOPATHS 151
ASSIGNMENT 158
FIRE IN THE STEPPE: AN EVIL NIGHT 167
IGNORAMUS 175
TASK 181
DREAMS 190
A CRIME: A DOUBLE MURDER CASE 201
DRAMA 208
AN AMBULANCE 216
BAD BUSINESS 223
MISFORTUNE 230
THE MAN WHO WANTED REVENGE 239
THIEVES 246
MURDER 266
CRIMINAL INVESTIGATOR 278
THE DRAMA AT THE HUNT 285

[Ian Beardsell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found these early short stories of this famous Russian writer happily accessible to the modern reader. For the most part, that is. As many others have mentioned in their reviews, I think there are issues with the translation in many cases, as certain phrases come across rather strangely or do not even make sense.

Apparently, these are some of Chekhov's earliest writings, so they really are good indications of his ability to set mood and tone and to delve into common elements of human nature.

The short story format becomes a bit too much of a good thing in this collection, though. As soon as you get into a story and its characters, it is over, and we are on to the next one.

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have not associated Anton Chekhov with short stories, only with his plays. Until now. Here is a collection of his short fiction that, for the most part to our American ears, has a familiar O’Henry ring to them. Of course, William Sydney Porter was a contemporary of Chekhov; so their constructions that have become templates for modern short-story writing might be seen as bearing similar elements.

This collection starts out wonderfully—and humorously—with the first two stories: “A Night in the Cemetery” flashes a risible twist when a terrified tippler tumbles into tombstones; and, “What You Usually Find in Novels” is Chekhov’s jocose jeremiad jabbing at his contemporary, competitive fiction writers.

Although not matching our current CSI savvy, two of Chekhov’s pieces forge elements of the detective genre: “The Swedish Match,” where overwhelming obvious clues are overridden by one small object; and, “The Drama at the Hunt,” when the actual killer is exposed through evidence provided years after an unfortunate’s trial and conviction.

Most crime yarns seemed cloaked in struggles of guilty consciences, black-out drinking, desperation in darkness, and plenty of snow—and blood. Of course, some of these non-electric, non-electronic environments might be difficult for us moderns to truly appreciate; but, that was life in century-old Russia. A few of these tales, such as “The Wallet,” conclude in a recognizable, if not implied, twist of fate.

A few of the suspense stories, however, such as “At the Cemetery,” do end in a “huh?” denouement. Conceivably some clue or specific piece of evidence has been missed in the reading; or perhaps some term has been misinterpreted in this translation by Peter Sekirin; or quite possibly there is some arcane association that was missed—perhaps a connotation hidden in a name or within a then-common but now-obsolete object, ritual, or cultural aspect. Whatever the bases of misunderstanding, these fictions carry meaning and yet they seem to end in medias res. They’re not cliff-hangers; just puzzles. These fictions might be literary equivalents to matryoshka dolls (those Russian nesting dolls) or to Kholuy miniatures (iconic paper maché boxes).

This book is a pleasurable visit with a 19th Century Russian doctor turned pioneering writer of early 20th Century fiction. If we strip away our modern sleuthing arrogance, we should be able to enjoy this Uncle Vanya relating his novel, avuncular stories in the front parlor. Cigars are a must; vodka is optional.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Night in the Cemetery: And Other Stories of Crime and Suspense by Anton Chekhov and translated by Peter Sekirin is a book filled with the short stories of Anton Chekhov that have a genre of crime or mystery. Anton Chekhov started his writing career with this genre and later returned to it near the end of his life. In this book there are many short stories including A Night in the Cemetery, What You Usually Find in Novels, The Conversation of a Man with a Dog, and Conversation of a Drunk Man with a Sober Devil. In A Night in the Cemetery a man gets drunk as a duck at a New Year’s party. He leaves the party around two and finds himself in a cemetery. He soon hears footsteps drawing closer, then a loud howling sound coming from the creature that walked towards him. Then he finds a heavy hand on his shoulder and wakes up the next day in prison. He listens to a conversation between two men outside his cell and learns that they found him drunk on top of a tombstone with a dog howling next to him. In What You Usually Find in Novels Chekhov makes up a few common characters and events that you find in stories and lists them in a way so a small story is told. It is a funny short story with no real plot. In Conversation of a Drunk Man with a Sober Devil a man is drinking and soon a green devil appears before him. They talk of the devil’s occupation and take a few shots. Soon the devil is crying and talking of what’s wrong with his life and fall the man soon falls asleep afterwards. When he wakes up the devil has left to go back to his regular life. I really liked this book and all of the short stories in it. I would recommend this book to just about anyone that can read.

[Ian Bond · Rating 4 out of 5]

Several of these stories were wonderful and thought provoking. They are layed out in steadily increasing length which allows for a deepening respect for Chekhov's ability to tell a story whether short or long. While most famous for his plays, his short stories clearly encapsulate many of the ideas conveyed with more depth in his plays. Some concern ghosts, theives, larsony, and murder, while others include love, sex, fear, and humor. Often a combination of all is included in a story. Worth reading if you are a fan of Chekhov's plays and wish to better understand the simple, yet challenging characters he creates. From an actor's perspective, many of these stories could be adapted for the stage as monologues, short plays, or even full evenings. The translation does its best to convey the feeling an style of Chekhov (as far as I know), but can seem simplistic at times. Don't get lost in the straightforward language and middle-school vocabulary. It all goes to show that an excellent story can be told without a reliance on verbiage and shock, as Chekhov's rarely do.

[Todd Hogan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A loan from Сисилота А., who thought I might enjoy this group of short stories. She was right.

Anton Chekhov is not known for stories of crime and suspense, so this volume of short stories was a keen reminder of his talent. Many of these stories were less than five pages long but still engaging. It reminds the reader of the importance of character when telling a story. The characters in these stories, especially the early stories, drive the narrative. Their desires, fears, prejudices color the actions they take. In the later stories, the author sets up elaborate situations in which the protagonist finds himself (nearly all are male), but still the story is propelled by the wants of the protagonist.

A nice addition to any Chekhov collection. Thanks, Сисилота А.!

[Jayme(theghostreader) · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wasn't very impressed with this book. For starters, the stories aren't very suspenseful. There is over twenty short stories and they all blend together and sound the same. I don't know if it because it has been translated into English and it wasn't translated well or what. For example, there is a story called "An Expensive Dog". It starts off by two friends who at the one's house and the one is telling the other about how great his dog is. The owner of the dog tries to sell it to his best friend. He tells his friend the dog has good breeding etc. However his friend doesn't want the dog so the owner ends up abandoning it. It was a stupid story.

[Erma Odrach · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chekhov wrote these stories in his twenties. They are full of crime and suspense and with his tradmark dark humor. My favorite is "The Man Who Wanted Revenge" about a man who sets out to buy a gun to murder his cheating wife and her lover but then has second thoughts. The end result is brilliant and unexpected. Published in 2008, this collection (with an excellent translation by Peter Sekirin)is a must read for all Chekhov fans.

[Gayathri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting collection of stories. They are borderline paranormal and do not delve deep into the uncanny. But I loved the dark and dry humour in some of the stories. Wish the book had not been translated into English by a Russian! In parts, the translation is too literal and the meaning mostly lost.

[N.L. Riviezzo · Rating 2 out of 5]

I struggled to 'get' into the stories. For some reason, they way they were written and their content was just lost on me. I have read some of Chekhov's later translated works and found them entertaining but these just left me in the dark.

[Cooper Renner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Often interesting in detail and characterization and 'plot', these early stories by Chekhov are also not terribly well-written (unless the translation is at fault). Fun in many ways, but not perhaps indicative of what he would achieve in his 'serious' fiction.

[Ted · Rating 2 out of 5]

Chekhov's early writing. While these stories are neither good mysteries nor good Chekhov they are good examples of the growth and maturation of both. Watch a master learning his trade.

[Erma Odrach · Rating 5 out of 5]

Never before translated short stories by Anton Chekhov, written when he was in his 20's. The collection, mainly suspense/mystery, if nothing else, shows a genius in the making.

[Lee Woody]

Loved all the twists and turns Chekhov takes in his short stories.

[Alor Deng · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chekhov, the master of the short-story. Great collection.

[Sarah Ensor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chekhov's short stories were written for quick cash to keep the household afloat so he wrote about the pomposities, foolishness and malice of class society around him.

“My story begins, as do most traditional well-written Russian stories with the phrase I was drunk that day“.

He also travelled through much of remote northern Russia interviewing ordinary people in villages, penal colonies and prisons about their lives. These are the characters who became criminal by chance and greed, anger or just bad luck.

Feckless young men spend money they don't have and associate with company that doesn't care where they got it from. The rules of bourgeois morality imprison people who care about reputation and some find freedom in crime. 
Murderers "lose all their rights" and get ten years hard labour, practically a death sentence. Life sentences involve bargains to escape poverty and other bad marriages.

The corruption of officials and accountants is bottomless and their friends, relations and hangers on all demand favours and shun those who get caught. Some are cowardly and ridiculous, actors and almost everyone else gets, "as drunk as a fish" and retired devils pose as people.

On the Sea, is about the toughest sailors, who "are dissipated because we don't know whether we need virtue on the open sea.” Their story is a meditation on depravity so appalling they cannot bear to watch and it's still shocking. And over all, the vastness of Russia.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short stories of Anton Chekhov with a crime theme.

I am not a huge short story fan, but I have had to re-evaluate them as I am studying them at the moment. I found, actually, that I have really liked some short stories - it is just that I prefer to become invested with characters in a longer work, and short stories are a different type of story. The ones I have liked are ones that have spoken to me for whatever reason. Maybe raising questions, or creating a chill of fear, or otherwise had me puzzling over them.

Chekhov, of course, is a master of the form, and has written very many short stories. This collection all had some crime theme but were very mixed otherwise. Some left me thinking "meh", bit others were better. The Swedish Match, for instance, was a wonderful tongue in cheek jab at detective fiction, with some clever characterisations to achieve that feel, and then it has a classic re-orientation at the end of the story that causes the reader to re-evaluate everything that went before. That is classic Chekhov, I think .

I have not become an instant fan of Chekhov and all his stories, but they are clearly clever, worth reading, and the book as a whole is rewarding.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

I hadn't read anything by Chekhov before. This was an overall enjoyable collection of short stories with some dark humour and with some nice odd-ness to many of them. Some were fairly typical mystery/suspense/crime while others played with the genre; there was some interesting stuff going on with narration and narrator reliability as well as not always following the expected format or giving the expected resolution, which was enjoyable.

My main reasons to dislike this collection were that many of the stories were very misogynistic, along with racism in some of the stories; few really gripped me or were memorable; and (although this is a bit unfair to the stories themselves) I hated the audio narrators of the book I listened to and I think this affected how much I enjoyed the stories themselves.

[Chet Herbert · Rating 4 out of 5]

[from 'A Night in the Cemetery'] "My story begins, as do most traditional well-written Russian stories, with the phrase 'I was drunk that day.' "
"It happened after the New Year's Eve party where I celebrated with one of my best friends, and I got as drunk as a fish. In my defense, I should say that I had a good reason for getting drunk on that night. I believe it is a worthy pursuit for people to feel happy on New Year's Eve. Every coming year is as bad as the previous one, the only difference being that in most cases it is even worse.
"I think that during our traditional New Year's Eve parties people should fight, be miserable, cry, and attempt suicide. One must remember that each new year leads you closer to death, the bald spot on your head spreads, the wrinkles on your face grow deeper, your wife gets older, and with every new year you have more kids and less money."

[Jay Rothermel · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Night in the Cemetery and Other Tales of Crime and Suspense by Anton Chekhov is packed tight with stories by turns gelastic, sober, angry, and compassionate. There is no bathos, and elements of melodrama are winked-away or happily demolished. Each criminal thinks himself (or herself) unique; but as readers know, every crime is exhaustingly the same. Chekhov's precocious craft finds strength in the ironies of each all-to-human fool's activity.

Not every story is a murder mystery. There are embezzlers, horse thieves, and hapless security guards at every turn.

Peter Sekirin's translation is masterful, catching the informality and drollery of Chekhov's assured and perfect style.


http://jayrothermel.blogspot.com.jayr...

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you don't love Chekhov, you don't love what it means to be human. There, I said it.

Chekhov was in his twenties when he wrote these stories, still in medical school, yet his hallmark absurdist sensibilities are still on full display. While the stories are not on par with his later work, they are still delightfully weird and his characters, in many instances, painfully obsequious. Chekhov will always be one of my favorite short story writers, because his genius was to expose how damaged we all are, and no one has ever done so with such easily digestible grace as he did. That said, I'd suggest his story collections The Russian Master or About Love and Other Stories if you've never read Chekhov, because these later volumes invoke a more mature approach to his craft. Alternately, if you're a fan of Chekhov, I do recommend A Night in the Cemetery – just to smile at Chekhov's unique voice, even though that voice was still developing when he wrote these stories.

[Ciaran Monaghan · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very mixed bag with a few good ones but a large amount of dross. Some of the best were the funnier ones with a twist driven by a large amount of alcohol consumption but these were few and far between. I only chose this as a bridge to see me to the end of the year so I can't claim to be too disappointed but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. Pretty forgettable.