How the queen of detective Alexandra Marinina lives: 10 little-known facts about the famous writer

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

For many years now, Alexandra Marinina has been called the detective queen and the Russian Agatha Christie. In fact, her books are distinguished by an unusual plot and a completely unexpected denouement, they captivate the reader from the very first page and do not allow them to break away from reading until the very end. Marina Anatolyevna Alekseeva (real name Marina) is the author of several series of detective stories, and recently new directions have appeared in her work.

Fact # 1: How the nickname came about

For the first time the name "Alexander Marinin" appeared back in 1991, when the very first story "Six-Winged Seraphim" was written in collaboration with a colleague from the Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the magazine "Police". The pseudonym is based on the names of both authors: Alexander Gorkin and Marina Alekseeva. When the writer began to write detective stories, with the consent of her co-author, she left herself a once invented name.

Fact 2: Hereditary lawyer

Before devoting her life to literary creativity, Marina Alekseeva graduated from the law faculty of Moscow State University. At the same time, her father worked all his life in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and her mother was a teacher in the theory of law and criminal procedure at the Leningrad Police School. She started as a laboratory assistant, and retired with the rank of lieutenant colonel. During this time, Marina Anatolyevna wrote many scientific works, including a monograph published by the UN Institute on Crime Problems. She also defended her Ph. D. thesis on the personality of those convicted of crimes related to violence, and at the Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs she was engaged in the analysis and forecasting of crime.

Fact # 3: Expected happiness

Aleksandra Marinina's spouse is Sergei Zatochny, police lieutenant colonel. For eight years she had to wait for the moment when the future husband would divorce his wife. This condition was set due to the fact that Zatochny had a son in marriage and he wanted to raise him to adulthood. The man kept his promise: he did not inflict psychological trauma on his son and made his beloved woman happy.

Fact number 4: The beginning of an active creative activity

It was because of the inability to be close to her beloved person that Alexandra Marinina began to write a lot. Lonely evenings were brightened up by the company of her heroes, Nastya Kamenskaya and her colleagues. The reader fell in love with Alexandra Marinina's books very quickly, and when the author entered into a legal marriage, on the advice of her husband she quit her job and began to engage exclusively in creativity.

Fact # 5: Depression-fighting hobby

After retirement, Alexandra Marinina felt devastated and, contrary to expectations, was unable to write. Cross-stitch and flamenco, which she enthusiastically began to do, helped the writer to get out of the state of depression. As soon as her emotional state stabilized, she again took up the pen. At the same time, Sergei Zatochny, with touching care, hung his wife's embroideries in their apartment and, at any opportunity, proudly told his friends about them. And the writer also collects bells and listens to their gentle play again and again with pleasure.

Fact # 6: Not just a detective

Russian Agatha Christie writes not only detective stories. Her bibliography includes a family saga, a psychological thriller, and even two plays. The only direction in modern literature that does not attract her in terms of creativity is a love story. She does not plan to write them, but she does not feel any disdain for either the writers who write them, or for the readers who love this kind of work.

Fact # 7: Trademark

The literary pseudonym “Alexandra Marinina” is registered in the Register of Trademarks, just like the name and surname of her most famous heroine “Kamenskaya” and “Nastya Kamenskaya”.

Fact # 8: Recognition

Alexandra Marinina is the winner of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia award for the best work about the Russian police, and she is also the "Writer of the Year - 1998" for the largest number of copies. The writer also won a special prize from the Ogonyok magazine for 1998 - Success of the Year. At the end of 2013, Marina's works were included in the TOP-20 of the most popular books in Russia and abroad according to the edition of Pro-Books.ru.

Fact number 9: What Alexandra Marinina is silent about

The writer has a clear taboo on discussing certain topics. First of all, it is politics and the situation in the country. She never speaks about her political preferences and does not support any political parties and forces. Also in the zone of silence for Marinina is the issue of combating crime and the work of other writers writing detective stories.

Fact # 10: Write for yourself

Alexandra Marinina does not evaluate her literary work, but in an interview she admits that she only writes books that she herself would read with pleasure. Perhaps this is precisely the secret of the success of her works.

Alexandra Marinina she met her husband Sergei Zatochny when she was 32 years old. But she got married only at 40. At the same time, she knew for sure that her expectation of happiness would last exactly 8 years. And I was sure the marriage would be happy and cloudless. Today she is an absolutely insecure and happy person. And at the same time, the ideal wife.