Avakum Zakhov is an agent with the Bulgarian Secret Service.
What his full real name is, for Zakhov was only the 'pseudonym' assigned to him by the powers of that then communist nation's state security, I am not certain but Habakkuk is part of it as that is what his old friends call him when in private.
We learn a fair amount about this man from the first recorded adventure where we are told that he was a specialist in archaeology. After graduating from the University of Sofia with a degree in History, he went on to finish a postgraduate course in Moscow in epigraphy and "specialized in the restoration of archaeological objects". Once he returned from that capital, he went to work on a volunteer basis at the Archaeological Institute while managing "to graduate from the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics in absentia, mastered the art of artistic photography and all photo-laboratory techniques". It was then that "one accidental circumstance made him a voluntary employee of the state security agencies". From then on, archaeology had to take a back seat to his work in the Secret Service, though he still loved to drop by the Institute and help out on occasion.
Zakhov is described as being 180 cm (5' 11") in height with "broad, strong shoulders, slightly inclined forward, long, heavy hands, [arms] slightly bent at the elbow". He has a "thin oblong face" with "a high forehead and an energetic chin" and "large gray-blue eyes". "When he studied the situation in which something happened that became the subject of his activity as a state security officer, asked to find someone's traces, these thoughtfully contemplative eyes immediately became stern. meticulously demanding, endlessly attentive even to barely noticeable details. At such moments, they seemed quite gray and coldly shone from under the half-lowered eyelids, like polished steel." He is just under 40 years of age.
In the unavoidable hype by publishers regarding the adventures of Zakhov, it is common to see references to his being the Bulgarian James Bond. He would even go up against that noted British operative, albeit with his name never being actually mentioned and all references to 007 having one 0 removed to make it simply '07'. In fact, however, Zakhov had far more similarity to another British fiction icon - Sherlock Holmes. Most of Zakhov's recorded missions dealt with him going up against some foreign spy or saboteur but it was often in the form of having to solve some mystery - usually a murder. Zakhov's approach to discovering the culprit(s) was quintessential Holmes. Zakhov noticed minute details and combined several to arrive at an astonishingly accurate deduction. He would have his occasional moments of physical altercations but they were not common for Zakhov fought mostly with his brain.
Similarly, while Holmes smoked a pipe while contemplating his clues and reached for a violin when either deeply perplexed or needing some solace, Zakhov enjoyed his own pipe of tobacco and reached for some ancient bone or artifact to clean or study. Both men remained steadfastly a bachelor but both did have one that got away.
Good Lines:
- Said by Zakhov, "There is an unwritten law in the world: beautiful women fall in love with a simpleton!"
- Fascinating albeit depressing description of Zakhov's demeanor is given by a close friend of 15 years: "Except the greater part of the day and the hours up to midnight, and the few hours after midnight when he sleeps - the rest of the time he is a fun and cheerful fellow."