The fourth in the Black Forest Investigations - by the four-time winner of the German Crime Fiction Award
Over the course of several days one hot summer, a female student from Freiburg disappears, a father is murdered in a brutal attack, a teenage boy drowns in the Rhine in suspicious circumstances. It soon becomes evident to Chief Inspector Louise Boni and her colleagues at Freiburg's criminal police that the three cases are connected - and that others are now in terrible danger. Including Boni herself.
In the fourth of the Black Forest Investigations, Louise Boni is confronted with the grim secrets of outwardly respectable citizens. Sometimes it takes very little to unleash the monster in man.
Oliver Bottini takes his readers to moments of heightened tension before allowing them to peer into the abysses of human evil. He is an exceptional storyteller.
Translated from the German by Jamie Bulloch
Bottini's novels are infused with his knowledge of the darker corners of European history - Sunday Times
Bottini is a terrific storyteller and he evokes his setting - the Rhine borderlands of the Black Forest - with skill - Sunday Express
Oliver Bottini was born in 1965. Four of his novels, including ZEN AND THE ART OF MURDER and A SUMMER OF MURDER of the Black Forest Investigations have been awarded the Deutscher Krimipreis, Germany's most prestigious award for crime writing. ZEN AND THE ART OF MURDER was shortlisted for the 2018 CWA International Dagger. He lives in Frankfurt. www.bottini.de.