“New Year's Surprise” is a story about solving complex crimes in the southern city of metallurgists and miners, in the distant past, at the end of the Soviet era. The narrative immerses us in the difficult everyday work of an investigator, the complex relationships in the work of law enforcement officers of that time. Despite all the harshness of the everyday work of an investigator, on the pages of the story the reader will encounter many lyrical digressions that reveal the full versatility of the character of the people who stand, as they say, “guarding our peace.” It seems that this story will be interesting not only to those who lived at that time, but also to the modern reader.