What do you think?
Rate this book
Костенко #1
Петровка 38
Любителите на приключенско четиво, закърмени с произведенията на „класиците“ на тази литература, ще бъдат смутени, когато започнат да четат „Петровка“ 38. Авторът й — младият съветски белетрист Юлиан Семьонов — най-безцеремонно нарушава каноните на жанра: още от първите страници става ясно кой е убиецът. В „Петровка“ 38 нито престъпниците, нито техните преследвачи правят главоломни скокове от един покрив на друг, тичат по вагоните на шеметно летящи експреси, водят ефектни престрелки (изобщо в цялата книга огнестрелно оръжие се прилага един единствен път, и то от шефа на бандата).
Историята на това как една специална оперативна група от трима души тръгва съвсем от нищо: от трупа на милиционера Копитов, от три протокола за извършен грабеж и от една квитанция за платен наем, а накрая „разплита чорапа“ и в многомилионната Москва успява да залови цялата банда, е разказана с подчертана делничност.
Но тази делничност е преднамерена, защото чрез нея разказвачът ни убеждава в достоверността на случая и на описаните в книгата хора. Почти репортажната точност на описанието веднага пленява читателя и той наистина на един дъх поглъща книгата, защото му е безкрайно интересно да научи как действуват живите престъпници, а не ония от романите; как се борят с тях детективите — не Шерлок Холмс или инспекторът Мегре, а истинските, онези, които се трудят на улица „Петровка“ № 38, в сградата на Московската криминална милиция.
Историята на това как една специална оперативна група от трима души тръгва съвсем от нищо: от трупа на милиционера Копитов, от три протокола за извършен грабеж и от една квитанция за платен наем, а накрая „разплита чорапа“ и в многомилионната Москва успява да залови цялата банда, е разказана с подчертана делничност.
Но тази делничност е преднамерена, защото чрез нея разказвачът ни убеждава в достоверността на случая и на описаните в книгата хора. Почти репортажната точност на описанието веднага пленява читателя и той наистина на един дъх поглъща книгата, защото му е безкрайно интересно да научи как действуват живите престъпници, а не ония от романите; как се борят с тях детективите — не Шерлок Холмс или инспекторът Мегре, а истинските, онези, които се трудят на улица „Петровка“ № 38, в сградата на Московската криминална милиция.
175 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1964
38 people want to read
About the author
Yulian Semyonov
84 books32 followersYulian Semyonovich Semyonov (Russian: Юлиа́н Семёнович Семёнов, pen-name of Yulian Semyonovich Lyandres (Russian: Ля́ндрес) was a Soviet and Russian writer of spy fiction and detective fiction, also scriptwriter and poet.
The father of Semyonov was Jewish, the editor of the newspaper “Izvestia”, Semyon Alexandrovich Lyandres. In 1952 he was arrested as "an accomplice of the Bukharin counterrevolutionary conspiracy" and severely beaten during the interrogations; he became partially paralyzed as the result. His mother was Russian, Galina Nikolaevna Nozdrina, a history teacher.
His wife Ekaterina Sergeevna was a step-daughter of Sergey Vladimirovich Mikhalkov (the wedding took place on 12 April 1955). Though their family life was quite complicated, Ekaterina Sergeevna devotedly kept looking after her husband after the stroke which happened to him in 1990.
They had two daughters – Daria and Olga. The elder one, Daria, is an artist, and the younger, Olga Semyonova, is a journalist and a writer, an author of the autobiographical books about her father.
In 1953 Semyonov graduated from Moscow Institute of Oriental Studies, the Middle-East department. Then he taught the Afghan language (Pashto) in Moscow State University and simultaneously studied there in the faculty of history.
After gaining a degree of an interpreter in the University, Semyonov had diplomatic business in East Asia countries, continuing at the same time his scientific studies in Moscow State University (specializing in Persian history and politics).
Since 1955 he started to try his hand in journalism: he was published in key Soviet newspapers and magazines of that time: “Ogoniok”, “Pravda”, “Literaturnaya Gazeta”, “Komsomolskaya Pravda”, “Smena” etc.
In 1960s – 1970s Semyonov worked abroad a lot as a reporter of the said editions (in France, Spain, Germany, Cuba, Japan, the USA, Latin America). His journalist activity was full of adventures, often dangerous ones – at the moment he was in the taiga with tiger hunters, or at the polar station, at the next he was at the Baikal-Amur Mainline construction and diamond pipe opening. He was constantly in the centre of the important politic events of those years – in Afghanistan, Francoist Spain, Chile, Cuba, Paraguay, tracing the Nazi, who sought cover from punishment, and Sicilian mafia leaders; taking part in the combatant operations of the Vietnamese and Laotian partisans.
Semyonov was one of the pioneers of “Investigative journalism” in the Soviet periodicals. Thus, in 1974 in Madrid he managed to interview a Nazi criminal, the favourite of Hitler Otto Skorzeny, who categorically refused to meet any journalist before. Then, being the “Literaturnaya Gazeta” newspaper correspondent in Germany, the writer succeeds in interviewing the reichsminister Albert Speer and one of the SS leaders Karl Wolff.
The conversations with such people, as well as holding the investigation regarding the searches for the Amber Room and other cultural values moved abroad from Russia during World War II were published by Semyonov in his documentary story “Face to Face” in 1983.
In 1986 Semyonov became the President of the International Association of Detective and Political Novel (Russian: МАДПР), which he himself initiated to create, and the editor-in-chief of the collected stories edition “Detective and Politics” (the edition was published by the said Association together with the Press Agency “Novosti” and played an important role in popularization of the detective genre in the USSR.
Semyonov’s participation in searching for the famous Amber Room together with Georges Simenon, James Aldridge, baron von Falz-Fein and other famous members of the International Amber Room Searching Committee achieved wide renown.
Yulian Semyonov and his friends, Andrei Mironov (right) and Lev Durov (Crimea, date unknown)
Semyonov, together with baron Eduard von Falz-Fein, a Russian aristocrat and first wave émig
The father of Semyonov was Jewish, the editor of the newspaper “Izvestia”, Semyon Alexandrovich Lyandres. In 1952 he was arrested as "an accomplice of the Bukharin counterrevolutionary conspiracy" and severely beaten during the interrogations; he became partially paralyzed as the result. His mother was Russian, Galina Nikolaevna Nozdrina, a history teacher.
His wife Ekaterina Sergeevna was a step-daughter of Sergey Vladimirovich Mikhalkov (the wedding took place on 12 April 1955). Though their family life was quite complicated, Ekaterina Sergeevna devotedly kept looking after her husband after the stroke which happened to him in 1990.
They had two daughters – Daria and Olga. The elder one, Daria, is an artist, and the younger, Olga Semyonova, is a journalist and a writer, an author of the autobiographical books about her father.
In 1953 Semyonov graduated from Moscow Institute of Oriental Studies, the Middle-East department. Then he taught the Afghan language (Pashto) in Moscow State University and simultaneously studied there in the faculty of history.
After gaining a degree of an interpreter in the University, Semyonov had diplomatic business in East Asia countries, continuing at the same time his scientific studies in Moscow State University (specializing in Persian history and politics).
Since 1955 he started to try his hand in journalism: he was published in key Soviet newspapers and magazines of that time: “Ogoniok”, “Pravda”, “Literaturnaya Gazeta”, “Komsomolskaya Pravda”, “Smena” etc.
In 1960s – 1970s Semyonov worked abroad a lot as a reporter of the said editions (in France, Spain, Germany, Cuba, Japan, the USA, Latin America). His journalist activity was full of adventures, often dangerous ones – at the moment he was in the taiga with tiger hunters, or at the polar station, at the next he was at the Baikal-Amur Mainline construction and diamond pipe opening. He was constantly in the centre of the important politic events of those years – in Afghanistan, Francoist Spain, Chile, Cuba, Paraguay, tracing the Nazi, who sought cover from punishment, and Sicilian mafia leaders; taking part in the combatant operations of the Vietnamese and Laotian partisans.
Semyonov was one of the pioneers of “Investigative journalism” in the Soviet periodicals. Thus, in 1974 in Madrid he managed to interview a Nazi criminal, the favourite of Hitler Otto Skorzeny, who categorically refused to meet any journalist before. Then, being the “Literaturnaya Gazeta” newspaper correspondent in Germany, the writer succeeds in interviewing the reichsminister Albert Speer and one of the SS leaders Karl Wolff.
The conversations with such people, as well as holding the investigation regarding the searches for the Amber Room and other cultural values moved abroad from Russia during World War II were published by Semyonov in his documentary story “Face to Face” in 1983.
In 1986 Semyonov became the President of the International Association of Detective and Political Novel (Russian: МАДПР), which he himself initiated to create, and the editor-in-chief of the collected stories edition “Detective and Politics” (the edition was published by the said Association together with the Press Agency “Novosti” and played an important role in popularization of the detective genre in the USSR.
Semyonov’s participation in searching for the famous Amber Room together with Georges Simenon, James Aldridge, baron von Falz-Fein and other famous members of the International Amber Room Searching Committee achieved wide renown.
Yulian Semyonov and his friends, Andrei Mironov (right) and Lev Durov (Crimea, date unknown)
Semyonov, together with baron Eduard von Falz-Fein, a Russian aristocrat and first wave émig
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
June 16, 2025
ალიონა მოსკოვის მძინარე ქუჩებში მირბოდა...
February 1, 2022
This is not a spoiler free review!
My copy was translated to English by Michael Scammel. This was my first Russian novel I've ever read, so I'm unsure if it's simply the nature of the Russian Language, the style of the author, or the style of the translator, but the style of writing was more abrupt than I'm used to. It was very dialogue driven, and "told" more than "showed" what was happening in the story and how the characters were reacting. It was a little difficult to get into when I first started reading it. Even so, I was starting to fall in love with Kopytov when he was abruptly murdered in the beginning of the story. I couldn't help but feel for him, and wanted justice for his family through the whole book.
The author also seems to have a way to make you like characters upon introduction. The trio of Detectives are varying ages and stages of life. Sadchikov is the eldest and leader. He's married longest, has a couple children, and the background plot for him is that he's having a rough patch with his wife, but doesn't understand why. I liked the little touch of him stuttering in his dialogue, instead of being told "This guy has a stutter." He's dissatisfied with the government and state of the world at large. There is a weary wisdom and simpleness about him that is endlessly endearing. Easily my favorite character in the book.
Kostyenko is the middle Detective. He's newly married with a young wife and toddler daughter. His background plot is that he cannot get a house for his family in the city, and has been separated from his wife and daughter for several months while they stay with her family in the country until Kostyenko can get a house for them. Out of the three detectives he seems the most "Columbo" like. A true passion for justice, straightforward and uncomplicated.
Roslyakov is the youngest. Unmarried and newly a detective, he has a good eye for "deduction" and jokes that he's trying to be like Sherlock Holmes. He brings a fresh perspective to the team, and the two older detectives love and respect him, spending free time with him and encouraging his hobbies (like theater and music hall). Because he's so young, he doesn't have much of a background given in the story, but he's described as athletic, handsome, and a little vain, spending a lot of money and time on fine clothes.
So many of the loose ends tie up incredibly neatly at the end of the story. The detectives were able to prevent a murder, and the man who would have been murdered saves the life of Roslyakov. Sadchikov's wife is a nurse, who happens to work for the very same Doctor. She assists on the life-saving procedure for Roslyakov, and in doing so understands why her husband has been so distant, and the difficulties in her and Sadchikov's marriage disappear in her understanding.
The overall crime plot was very gripping. The back and forth from Villain POV to Detective POV made for delicious reading. It suffered from some slow parts, but made up for it in very suspenseful sequences. I would read it again, and am trying to find a translated version of the 1980 film!
My copy was translated to English by Michael Scammel. This was my first Russian novel I've ever read, so I'm unsure if it's simply the nature of the Russian Language, the style of the author, or the style of the translator, but the style of writing was more abrupt than I'm used to. It was very dialogue driven, and "told" more than "showed" what was happening in the story and how the characters were reacting. It was a little difficult to get into when I first started reading it. Even so, I was starting to fall in love with Kopytov when he was abruptly murdered in the beginning of the story. I couldn't help but feel for him, and wanted justice for his family through the whole book.
The author also seems to have a way to make you like characters upon introduction. The trio of Detectives are varying ages and stages of life. Sadchikov is the eldest and leader. He's married longest, has a couple children, and the background plot for him is that he's having a rough patch with his wife, but doesn't understand why. I liked the little touch of him stuttering in his dialogue, instead of being told "This guy has a stutter." He's dissatisfied with the government and state of the world at large. There is a weary wisdom and simpleness about him that is endlessly endearing. Easily my favorite character in the book.
Kostyenko is the middle Detective. He's newly married with a young wife and toddler daughter. His background plot is that he cannot get a house for his family in the city, and has been separated from his wife and daughter for several months while they stay with her family in the country until Kostyenko can get a house for them. Out of the three detectives he seems the most "Columbo" like. A true passion for justice, straightforward and uncomplicated.
Roslyakov is the youngest. Unmarried and newly a detective, he has a good eye for "deduction" and jokes that he's trying to be like Sherlock Holmes. He brings a fresh perspective to the team, and the two older detectives love and respect him, spending free time with him and encouraging his hobbies (like theater and music hall). Because he's so young, he doesn't have much of a background given in the story, but he's described as athletic, handsome, and a little vain, spending a lot of money and time on fine clothes.
So many of the loose ends tie up incredibly neatly at the end of the story. The detectives were able to prevent a murder, and the man who would have been murdered saves the life of Roslyakov. Sadchikov's wife is a nurse, who happens to work for the very same Doctor. She assists on the life-saving procedure for Roslyakov, and in doing so understands why her husband has been so distant, and the difficulties in her and Sadchikov's marriage disappear in her understanding.
The overall crime plot was very gripping. The back and forth from Villain POV to Detective POV made for delicious reading. It suffered from some slow parts, but made up for it in very suspenseful sequences. I would read it again, and am trying to find a translated version of the 1980 film!
January 1, 2026
Как и с какого конца следовало взяться за описание работы московского уголовного розыска? И почему следовало писать именно на данную тему? Как получилось так, что имея интерес к азиатским делам, создав цикл описательных работ о Китае, Вьетнаме, Лаосе и Борнео, ряд художественных работ о Сибири и повесть про царского посланника в Афганистан, Юлиан Семёнов перешёл на тему производственного романа, ещё и рассказывая про современный писателю день? В «Петровке, 38» раскрывались будни 1962 года. Интересно ещё и то, насколько писатель был вовлечён в процесс. О нём говорят — он участвовал в оперативной работе в качестве наблюдателя, набрал нужное количество ему материала, в течение двадцати дней написав повесть. Спешка скорее имела негативный эффект. Может следовало чаще останавливаться, иначе размыслив ряд обстоятельств, чтобы никто не упрекнул Юлиана в сухости изложения? По итогу Семёнов полюбился своим умением излагать очевидное. Или причина в экранизации большинства его произведений? Не зря ведь есть мнение о творчестве Юлиана — понять описываемое удаётся лучше, обогатившись образами происходящего через экран, нежели суметь всё это разглядеть на страницах.
(c) Trounin
(c) Trounin
October 4, 2020
Written in 1964 USSR, this book is more than a conventional cops and robbers mystery, but is full of gentle gibes at the Soviet social system. The cops at issue here are great guys, but it is clear they are the exception to the heartless application of a legal system daily enforced by bureaucrats who do not care. It introduces criminals whose fathers were high in the previous regime (Beria's assistant) and by implication piles criticism on Stalin's time. It points at the arbitrary allocation of housing, and at the inequalities everywhere in the Soviet system. And it points at the very real level of greed and violence of criminals in Soviet Russia--directly against the propaganda of the time that the Communist system had reformed all people such that only psychologically imbalanced people committed crime. These overtones makes this book fascinating beyond the otherwise average plot and breaks leading to the solving of the crime. Four stars who are interested in how authors could criticize the system from within, three if you are looking for just a decent crime mystery.
January 10, 2025
Первая книга в серии, я ее читаю предпоследней ...
Только знакомимся с Костенко, только узнаем главных героев.
Главарь - бывший власовец, но эта линия еще не только просматривается в повести, уже потом, в "противостоянии" линия будет полностью развернута ... а сейчас, только прикидки
Слушал книгу, пока катал на лыжах, прослушал за один день )))
понравилось очень
Только знакомимся с Костенко, только узнаем главных героев.
Главарь - бывший власовец, но эта линия еще не только просматривается в повести, уже потом, в "противостоянии" линия будет полностью развернута ... а сейчас, только прикидки
Слушал книгу, пока катал на лыжах, прослушал за один день )))
понравилось очень
January 25, 2018
Super interesting book, very procedural and quite mundane, offering a rare insight in to life in Moscow in the 60s (unless you read a lot of Russian 60s literature I guess).
Extra plus for people being referred to using three different names in the space of two sentences.
Extra plus for people being referred to using three different names in the space of two sentences.
January 24, 2018
Загалом твір виглядав цікавим на час його прочитання. Однак, робота міліції показана ідеалізовано. Сюжет тривіальний. Герої роману або вкрай позитивні, або негативні.
January 12, 2013
No: I did not read this in Russian, but when one puts in the ISBN, this is the only version that pops up and the page count is the same.
Written in the mid-1960s, this Russian police procedural is extremely interesting for anyone who likes the genre or is interested in Russian culture. A copy might be hard to find, but I highly recommend it.
Written in the mid-1960s, this Russian police procedural is extremely interesting for anyone who likes the genre or is interested in Russian culture. A copy might be hard to find, but I highly recommend it.
Want to read
December 18, 2010A Moscow police procedural, published 1965. For extensive literary bio of semyonov, click on his name.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews