The journalist wrote a detective story about the real rescue of the kidnapped boy

A journalist from Baku Ramella Ibrahimkhalilova published her first book, “When the End Is Coming,” a detective story based on real events, the complicated operation of Azerbaijani police officers who freed a child from bandit captivity. The criminals kept the boy kidnapped in Sumgait in the house of a Chechen Ibrahim at the edge of a forest in Khasavyurt.

The story took place in a difficult period for Azerbaijan, after the Karabakh war, during the abundance of refugees from Karabakh, Armenia, Chechnya. The book ends with the murder in 2002 in the Yasamal district of Baku of the Chechen fighter Ibrahim Al-Guri, the one who poisoned the Jordanian emir Khattab.

Since 1998, Ramella has been working in various websites, newspapers, and news agencies, but she developed her skills in the newspaper Zerkalo (later “Echo”). She considers her coming to the newspaper natural; but he blessed it or advised the late editor-in-chief of the “Zerkalo”, who then headed the “Echo” newspaper, an excellent mentor Rauf Talyshinsky (died May 8, 2018).

“He knew that I, who worked in the criminal chronicle department, had interesting stories. Then I was not ready, and did not even think about my book. I have started writing. I get great pleasure from work, describing the investigation of crimes, the disclosure of which requires deep knowledge. I am not interested in simple, everyday crimes. Maybe I must become a forensic scientist. A swamp of journalism sucked me, but I do not regret, because I found many wonderful friends in this profession,” said Ibrahimkhalilova answering Turan questions.

When the “Echo” newspaper closed, Ramella’s many-year archive was lost on the computer she used in the editorial office. She had to restore records on published articles, since the events collected in the book were published by the author in parts in the Azerbaijani and Russian press. I met with participants in the events, consulted with criminal investigators. She listened to the advice, did not study the methodological recommendations for writers who are on the Internet.

The central point is the abduction of a boy in Sumgait, taken away by Chechens in 1997. The main character is an operative Mohammed Mammadov, who was nicknamed Maga Moscowsky, because he served in the Moscow Criminal Investigation Department. Ramella found Muhammad 18 years after that first meeting, when he first told her his story. The police officer was surprised that a book had been written about him. Muhammad came to a meeting with Ramella from the Goranboy region and took part in the presentation of the book.

Ramella wanted to show the complex investigation process from the inside. Everyone knows the beginning and end of the investigation - crime and arrest. However, few people know with what difficulties and risk to life the investigators are looking for and neutralizing criminals.

“Why come up with stories if everything interesting happens in life? Skeptics said that they did not believe in the veracity of the plot, but the current youth does not imagine how difficult in the criminal sense the period of the “dashing nineties” was in Azerbaijan,” laughs Ibrahimkhalilova.

The title of the book appeared form the very beginning. I tried to change it, but the stubborn words "When the End Comes" returned. Of course, the author gave the real story an artistic coloring. As a result, a detective story appeared.

My main task was to preserve the fascinating narrative and intrigue so as not to lose the reader. The critics turned out to be kind to me, only one made comments that I agree with and will take into account when working on the next book, the author says.

She invited police veterans to the presentation of the first book, and especially noted the professional opera of Elbrus Rustamov, one of the few Azerbaijani police officers who visited the militant camp in the Pankisi Gorge during the investigation of the murder of Ibrahim.

Is it possible to become rich by publishing books? I asked the young man.

 “You can make money on everything, by writing, too, if you put the advertising and management of the book correctly. I almost did not spend money on a book, my friends helped. The decoration of the book was undertaken by the artist and director Samir Karimoglu. The editor worked,” explained Ramella.

She has three children - two sons and a daughter. That is, there is no time to write a book at home, at work in general, too. The book was born on the way from Sumgayit to Baku and back: in a taxi, bus, train, she typed in a specially purchased tablet for this. “My book is proof of how you can achieve your goal, the main thing is desire, and time can be found,” the aspiring writer explained.

The circulation of the book is 600 copies. It is sold poorly because there is no advertising. Ibrahimkhalilova is new to the book market and admits that she does not know the secrets of promoting an art product.

She intends to work on the next book, there is already a plot, these are also real events and even cooler than in the first book. The author said nothing more, because when she talks about something in advance, in does not work.