November 03, 2024

A Swiped Sword Returns


A Swiped Sword Returns
Case closed. The Russian Life files

On Nov. 1, Moscow police announced the arrest of two persons who stole a 1938 German dagger from an antique store, solving an open case of theft.

Surveillance footage from the store and released to the public showed the two accomplices, a man and a woman in their twenties. While the woman distracted the shop's owner, the man perused a back corner of the store, where he slipped the relic into his coat. Both left the store soon after.

Shortly after the incident, the shop owner reported the theft after conducting an inventory.

Police arrested both suspects and located the dagger in a pawn shop, where the criminals had sold it for R300,000 (about $3,000).

As ever, crime doesn't pay. Usually.

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Survival Russian

Survival Russian is an intensely practical guide to conversational, colloquial and culture-rich Russian. It uses humor, current events and thematically-driven essays to deepen readers’ understanding of Russian language and culture. This enlarged Second Edition of Survival Russian includes over 90 essays and illuminates over 2000 invaluable Russian phrases and words.

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A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.

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July 01, 2015

The Latchkey Murders

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...

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The Life Stories collection is a nice introduction to contemporary Russian fiction: many of the 19 authors featured here have won major Russian literary prizes and/or become bestsellers. These are life-affirming stories of love, family, hope, rebirth, mystery and imagination, masterfully translated by some of the best Russian-English translators working today. The selections reassert the power of Russian literature to affect readers of all cultures in profound and lasting ways. Best of all, 100% of the profits from the sale of this book are going to benefit Russian hospice—not-for-profit care for fellow human beings who are nearing the end of their own life stories.

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