Charming Woman. Notes of a Judicial Investigator

In 1904, the book "Charming Woman. Twenty-Four Criminal Stories" was published. These "criminal stories" — written in a light and witty style — were based on real cases from the St. Petersburg detective police at the beginning of the 20th century. Their author, well-acquainted with the criminal life of St. Petersburg at that time, was none other than Mikhail Frolovich Chulitsky (1840–1921), the head of the criminal investigation police.

"Observing the diverse personalities of criminals, among whom there are also remarkable characters, I often marveled at the complexity and elusive uniqueness of the combination of the most disparate influences that shape their fateful destiny and cast them out of society." Thus begins the author's preface to this collection of real detective stories, which even today can surprise the discerning lover of the genre: life sometimes invents plots that the most sophisticated literary mind would envy.