Today, domestic authors of detective stories are very popular . Russian book publishers are happy to print their works. But it was not always so...
In ascetic Soviet times, worthy books of the “easy” genre were just as scarce as food or quality clothing. Among them, detective stories about the young detective Lev Gurov were especially in demand. But their author - Nikolai Leonov - was known for many works in which other heroes acted, as well as scripts for films whose level is not available to many of today's action films and bestsellers.
The difficult task of a biographer
Writer Nikolai Ivanovich Leonov is a complex subject for writing a biography. He lived only 65 years and passed away in early 1999. The time when fame was acquired not by work, but by the frequency of mentioning on the net, was just beginning, and he apparently belonged to individuals who did not attach much importance to the recognition of his person. And there were, apparently, quite a few extraordinary events in his life.
He was born in Moscow in 1933. According to some reports, he studied at the Moscow Law Institute in the same group as another future classic of the Soviet detective - George Weiner. After receiving a law degree, Nikolai Leonov went to work in the Moscow Criminal Investigation Department, the capital's criminal investigation department, the legendary unit of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the city of Moscow.
Detective and athlete
He went from being a lieutenant to a police captain, having worked a lot of time “in the field”, doing the most ordinary investigative work. The first cases of the young operative were minor incidents related to petty thefts and fraud in the capital markets. Nikolai Leonov served under Colonel Vladimir Chvanov, who is known as the prototype of the legendary Gleb Zheglov.
Friends and acquaintances note the similarity of the writer with his main literary hero - Lev Gurov - in relation to athletic alignment and good physical shape. This is no coincidence: Leonov was one of the first in the country who began to seriously engage in table tennis, was at one time a captain, and then a coach of the national team in this complex technically super-fast sport. They say that he was abroad as part of a team, and once went to competitions in the USA.
Road selection
For what reason, in 1963, after 10 years of service, he filed a report on the resignation from the police, it is difficult to say. Perhaps this is just a need for writing, maybe there were other reasons, similar to those that interfered with Lev Gurov's career - inability to adapt to circumstances to the detriment of his own nature. The dismissal from the MUR surprised many: captain Nikolai Leonov by that time began to participate in large-scale, large-scale investigations, in which he achieved tangible success.
But success in literature did not come immediately. The first self-written book “Getting Started Detention" (1965) is the result of numerous alterations and a long editing. Only gradually, as a result of intense efforts, cooperation with co-authors Leonov developed a style and manner that put him in the first row of masters of the genre.
Honed and twisted intrigue, accuracy in psychology and life details were appreciated by filmmakers. Nikolai Leonov is a writer who became famous as a screenwriter for films from the gold fund of Soviet film detectives.
"Restaurant on Pyatnitskaya" and "Option" Omega "
The first film experience of Leonov was the script “Ring”, a film on which was released in 1973. The detective story from the sporting life did not receive the close attention of the audience. But the next two films according to his scripts became hits.
The story “Wait for my call” about the life of workers of the Soviet UGRO during its formation was filmed in 1978 under the title “Tavern on Pyatnitskaya”. The film was watched by more than 50 million viewers, it became one of the leaders in film distribution and nominated Leonov as the leading author of detective stories. Russian TV channels now periodically show this movie.
Another masterpiece, shot according to the script written with the participation of Leonov, is repeated regularly - the television series Variant Omega (1979). It is based on the story “Operation Viking” about a scout operating in 1942 in occupied Tallinn. The confrontation between Sergei Skorin and the German counterintelligence agent von Schlosser is one of the first examples of works about the war that showed that not all of the enemies were wretched individuals and mentally disadvantaged people.
The brilliance of the film is given by the ingenious game of Oleg Dal and Igor Vasiliev, but they had something to play - the level of the literary basis of the film is very high.
Hurovskaya series
Between the first novel about Lev Gurov - “Apparition” (1975) - and the fact that it was released shortly before the death of the writer - “Feast during the Plague” (1998), more than two decades passed and a whole era. The main character muled and tempered, the methods and main goals of those who opposed him changed, the social way of life of the whole country collapsed. Nikolai Leonov, whose books to the smallest detail clearly reflected the world around him, went this way with the reader. A total of 28 novels and novels were published, where Gurov acts, first - a young lieutenant, and at the end - a seasoned lieutenant colonel. Many of them were screened with varying degrees of success.
The attention of readers and viewers to the main character of Leonov was explained by many. Among these factors are clearly distinguishable advantages of its appearance and internal content, inseparability from large or minor events that took place around, from the environment that surrounded everyone who lived in this country. But the main thing that resonated was the thirst for justice, which Gurov always lacked and which readers of novels about his adventures practically did not see.
Coincidence and Foresight
Leonov’s books have one more property noted by many connoisseurs of good detective literature. The actions of the characters created by the writer are determined not by the unbridled imagination of the author, but by the logic of events that take place at different levels of reality - from the realms of high politics to communal life.
Surprisingly, the surname of the main Leonov character and one of the legendary crime fighters Alexander Ivanovich Gurov coincides. One of the first he outlined the danger of organized crime arising in the bowels of a sick Soviet society, for which he was harassed by authorities armed with Soviet ideology. According to her, in the advanced social order there can be no prerequisites for the emergence of the mafia.
Mystical coincidences of the events of their own fate and those that occurred with the hero of the Leonov books were noted by the current police lieutenant general himself and the deputy. Career ups and downs, successes and defeats in the fight against powerful evil first occurred on the pages of books about Lev Ivanovich Gurov, and then in the real life of Alexander Ivanovich Gurov.
The last case of Lev Gurov, described by Leonov, is connected with the murder, to the smallest detail similar to the death of Galina Starovoitova, which became for the writer one of the incentive reasons for writing "Feast during the Plague." The version that is voiced on its pages is considered by many to be worthy of the attention of those who have not yet completed an official investigation.
What is the last thing to say? To many, the name of Nikolai Ivanovich Leonov is expensive, and each time they remember him with a kind word, re-reading beautiful books and revising films made from his scripts.