I've been told by my colleagues to start reading german books to optimize my german (it's quite ok in conversation, but 'proletarish' as my boss likes to call it). To keep myself motivated to do this, I want to read some detective or mystery novels in german. I'm currently reading translated Elisabeth George, but I was wondering of any of you know of any good mystery (or detective) writers who write in german. I think it makes more sense to read original german books than translations.
Reading a mystery novel set in the british countryside in german is like watching a dubbed movie, quite unsettling.
what are your favorites? tx for your suggestions!

Jeez now that anchi is creepy, first answer and first post trying to flog you something, big brother is watching.
If you wanna try something like that go to the railway station bookshop and have a gander through the Hefte there, most are quite good, I am sure that you will find something to your taste. Advantage is of course you are not investing a wedge of Francs in books you may not finish.

Maybe Andreas Eschbach?
I read "Eine Billion Dollar" (which is 1E12 Dollars) and "Das Jesus Video" (also available as a TV-feature, but the book is much, much better).

He has quite a lot of other books it seems, but I haven't read most of them.

great idea, I did that too when learning german and it worked wonders.
if something interests you in contents you'll keep reading!

the book Tannöd by Andrea Maria Schenkel about a bavarian village, based on real facts and quite well written, was a great success in germany. a film was made of it, so you can see that, too.

This is a bad recommendation for the OP's purpose. Tannöd is written from the perspective of the inhabitants of a rural Bavarian village and would do quite the opposite than let the OP's German sound less 'proletarish', it could get even worse when she picks up the Bavarian coloring of the narrators.

I would recommend Elisabeth Herrmann - Zeugin der Toten.

http://www.ullsteinbuchverlage.de/li...07&page=buchaz

It's about a former drug addict who comes across a murder case with strong ties to her childhood in an orphanage in the former GDR. Although the story runs along the activities of diverse intelligence agencies, it's suitable for crime readers who don't like spy thrillers.

Konijn asked this five years ago and has not posted for two...

Konjin, since you haven't posted in two years odds are you are not reading this, but if you are, here's a suggestion---how about the Sergeant Studer mysteries by Frederick Glauser? The books are set in Switzerland, and Glauser is so well-respected as a writer that the German award for best mystery writer is named after him.

http://www.amazon.de/Schlumpf-Erwin-...tt_at_ep_dpt_7

Five year old post, followed up by Russian Spambot


Epic ingredients for a useful thread about German literature.


People please

If you're living in Switzerland you may like some of Dürrenmatt's classics

I know it's an old thread, but it might be useful to somebody .

I'm on the same boat, and started to read Roger Graf and his detective Philip Maloney. Of course, I spend more time with the dictionary than with the actual book, but I'll get there (or die trying )

I know, it can be the most unputdownable pageturner in the worls, if it's too difficult it simply won't work.
so probably, after all, the best thing is to go to a library or a bookshop and browse the physical books trying to find a good compromise between one's interests and one's language level.

a good bet are translations, which are always easier to read than the author's original text because the use standard language.
instead of reading english authors in german one could opt for a third language, for instance all those skandinavian mystery authors which one would have to read in translation anyway.

A mere anecdote: just before I was about to take my Zertifikat exam some years ago, we were due to go on holiday. I thought I would buy some German literature to help me, so I picked up "Klingsors letzte Sommer" by Hermann Hesse.
Man what a mistake, It was really heavy going by my German standards at the time, I never finished it and I'm still not sure what it is about.

I am a native speaker and also never sure what Hesse is about, especially Unterm Rad was nothing but confusing.

I second Duerrenmatt. He manages to write deep stories with a relatively simple style.

I third Dürrenmatt. Most of the books I studied for exams I have never been able to read again, but I have a particular fondness for Dürrenmatt.

Max Frisch is another author to look out for. Biedermann und die Brandstifter is a play but again I'm quite fond of it. Homo Faber was made into a film with Sam Shepherd and Julie Delpy and has haunted me ever since (I read the original in German after watching the film)

Yeah, I also bought a Hesse novel to help learn German, remembering from my schooldays that the language and stories seemed pretty simple (in English, anyway).

Bad mistake. Obtuse. Never made it past the first couple of paragraphs.

I think you are right but keep in mind a lot of German professors at the university would see that a little different