Lev Ovalov

Lev Sergeyevich Ovalov (August 29, 1905 – April 30, 1997), a pen name of Lev Shapovalov was a Soviet writer, author of detective stories about the Chekist counterintelligence officer .

Biography Writer's biography is full of controversies: in one versions he has a noble genealogy, in others he is of "proletarian descent". A most plausible hypothesis is that in the early Soviet times he had to conceal his unacceptable "non-proletarian" origins in various Soviet questionaries. Major Pronin Major Pronin has become a character in Russian jokes, an ironic version of a James Bond-type super-Chekist, known better than the literary original: A more elaborate narration: "... From the toilet bowl, Major Pronin’s intelligent, insightful, and slightly tired eyes looked at him."