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The Murder of Anton Livius - (Inspector Hunkeler Investigates) by Hansjorg Schneider (Paperback)
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$15.95 list price
Target Online store #3991
About this item
Highlights
- Inspector Hunkeler is summoned back to Basel from his New Year holiday to unravel a gruesome killing in a community garden on the city's outskirts.
- About the Author: Author: Hansjörg Schneider (born 1938) lives in Basel and began his professional career as a journalist and essayist.
- 208 Pages
- Fiction + Literature Genres, Thrillers
- Series Name: Inspector Hunkeler Investigates
Description
Book Synopsis
Inspector Hunkeler is summoned back to Basel from his New Year holiday to unravel a gruesome killing in a community garden on the city's outskirts. An old man has been shot in the head and found in his garden shed hanging from a butcher's hook.Hunkeler must deal not only with the quarrelsome tenants of the garden but with the challenges of investigating a murder that has taken place outside his jurisdiction, across the French border in Alsace. The clues lead to the Emmental in Berne, and then to Alsace where wounds from the Second World War have never healed.Series: The third in the Inspector Hunkeler series published in English. The first was The Basel Killings published by Bitter Lemon in 2021, winner of the Friedrich Glauser Prize, Germany's most prestigious crime fiction award. The second was Silver Pebbles, a beautifully crafted thriller about stolen diamonds, drug couriers and people accidentally caught in a vortex of crime.Character-driven: Hunkeler is close to retirement age, gruff, intuitive, and endowed with a deep sense of psychology and a horror of social injustice. "Reminiscent of Wallander and Rebus, a little jaded, a bit rebellious and always independent with a strong intuition." said the Financial Times. It feels like Hunkeler investigates mostly by spending time in the bars and inns of his beloved city and neighbouring Alsace where he shares a small farmhouse with his long-suffering 'girlfriend' Hedwig. Sense of place: It is a harsh winter with unusually heavy snowfall and persistent sub-zero temperatures. The city of Basel and neighbouring Alsace are evoked with great love by Schneider, who in real life lives on the same street and frequents the same bars and restaurants as Inspector Hunkeler. As an outsider, Hunkeler is alive to class differences and social milieux. The contrast between the xenophobia of the local police and the Swiss press and the desperate, often lonely, world of Balkan and other immigrants informs the story.Review Quotes
BASEL KILLINGS: Listed in What to Read this Week in the WSJ. " An excellent first mystery and series launch This gripping, plausible debut bodes well for future entries." Publishers Weekly (STARRED) "A magnetic central character, a skillful and unhistrionic telling and a dose of political realism make this book a very welcome arrival." Morning Star "Looks ideal for anyone who enjoys reading about detectives like Martin Beck, Wallander or even Maigret." CrimeFictionLover "A disturbing picture of a cruelty that has lain undiscussed behind the façade of Swiss propriety and complacency; and all the while he keeps us guessing right to the end." European Literature Network
SILVER PEBBLES: BEST NEW THRILLERS FINANCIAL TIMES: " Basel may be Swiss, but like all border cities it's anything but squeaky clean, especially in this fast-paced, gritty story." "Reminiscent of Wallander and Rebus, a little jaded, a bit rebellious and always independent with a strong intuition. The style is reminiscent of elements of earlier Swiss crime novelists Glauser and Durrenmatt work.--NB Magazine "Hunkeler has been compared to Simenon's Inspector Maigret, though there are no wreaths of pipe smoke or constant breaks for a quick digestif. After all, Basel is not Paris, it is cleaner, greyer and harder. Perhaps that's the point." --Shotsmag
About the Author
Author: Hansjörg Schneider (born 1938) lives in Basel and began his professional career as a journalist and essayist. He is the author of a number of highly acclaimed plays and of the bestselling Hunkeler crime series, now with ten titles published. "The Basel Killings" was awarded The Friedrich Glauser Prize, Germany's most prestigious crime fiction prize. Translator: Astrid Freuler lives in Lydney, Gloucestershire. She is a translator from German and has published translations of non-fiction and fiction, including the crime thriller A Shadow Falls by Andreas Pflüger, from Head of Zeus Publishing.Dimensions (Overall): 7.7 Inches (H) x 5.1 Inches (W) x .8 Inches (D)
Weight: .45 Pounds
Suggested Age: 22 Years and Up
Number of Pages: 208
Genre: Fiction + Literature Genres
Sub-Genre: Thrillers
Series Title: Inspector Hunkeler Investigates
Publisher: Bitter Lemon Press
Theme: Crime
Format: Paperback
Author: Hansjorg Schneider
Language: English
Street Date: July 25, 2023
TCIN: 87197318
UPC: 9781913394875
Item Number (DPCI): 247-40-2929
Origin: Made in the USA or Imported
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Shipping details
Estimated ship dimensions: 0.8 inches length x 5.1 inches width x 7.7 inches height
Estimated ship weight: 0.45 pounds
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