Andres Anvelt
Andres Anvelt (b. 30. IX 1969) is a crime writer, former top police official and politician.
Anvelt was born and educated in Tallinn, attending the Tallinn Police Secondary School, the Faculty of Law at the University of Tartu (graduating in 2000) and a Master’s course in public administration at Tallinn University of Technology (graduating in 2003). He has worked as an officer of the criminal police, as the director of the Police College of the Estonian Academy of Security Sciences and of the Central Criminal Police, later as a member of Tallinn City Council and of the Riigikogu, as well as Minister of Justice and of the Interior. He was awarded the silver cross of the Eagle Cross in 2003. Andres Anvelt’s grandfather was Jaan Anvelt, one of the best-known Communist revolutionaries of the first period of independence, who won recognition as a writer under the pseudonym Eessaare Aadu.
Andres Anvelt entered the world of literature with the novel Punane elavhõbe (‘Red Mercury’, 2007), based on real life, which proved a great success, and concentrated on the wild years of the early nineties in the Estonian criminal world, with a hunt for the elusive red mercury. A feature film of the same name was made on the basis of this work (2010, directed by Andres Puustusmaa), for which Anvelt wrote the script. The novel Direktor. Ühe turu erastamise lugu (‘The Director. A Story of the Privatization of a Market’, 2010) also centres around the shady connections between politics, organized crime and business in the nineties, focusing on Tallinn Central Market. Anvelt is striking in his good knowledge of the subject and the creation of atmosphere; the works reveal, with their exciting subject matter, a detailed image of the society and criminal world of the time.
A. K. (Translated by C. M.)
Books in Estonian
Novels
Punane elavhõbe. Tallinn: Eesti Päevaleht, 2007, 391 lk. [Järgmised trükid: 2010, 2018.]
Direktor: ühe turu erastamise lugu. Muraste: Randvelt kirjastus, 2010, 292 lk.
