Monday, February 02, 2009

Germany: A puzzle, but no mystery?

Snow Day - school's out in Kent! This has given me time to update some of the countries on WhereDunnit, including uploading the page for German crime fiction. And it struck me that there seems to be a dearth of German crime fiction translated into English - at least as far as I can find.

I understand that Germans are great fans of the genre, devouring Scandinavian, British, French and Italian novels - so it's hard to believe that there aren't more native German crimewriters. If there are, why haven't they been made available to us in English?

So if anyone knows of any glaring omissions in my list, I'd be very grateful if you could let me know, likewise if any of the locations are incorrect. I've also updated the following: Canada, Austria & Switzerland and France. If it keeps on snowing, I may have time to do some more tomorrow!

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Years ago I read two or three books by Ingrid Noll (from the local library) and very much enjoyed their idiosyncracy and the unusual protagonist. I lost touch with her books but recently noted a newish one on Amazon so that is now in my queue. I read Andrea Maria Shenkel's Murder Farm last year - I quite liked it but not as much as many readers. I shall probably read her next one though (especially if it is as short ;-) ).
Obviously (?) I've read many Le Carres. My favourites are not his German-based ones, though, but The Little Drummer Girl and The Honourable Schoolboy.

One author I read I think 2007 is Jan Costin Wagner - Ice Moon. I loved that book. The author is German but spends half his time in Finland, where his wife is from. Most of the book is set in Finland, though there is a German element. I highly recommend it. (It is also short).

Friedrich Glausner (spelling wrong) was, I think, Swiss so he doesn't count.

Karen Meek at Euro Crime has lists of authors by country (or region) so you could cross-check your list against hers, if you have not already.

Dorte H said...

You must ask Bernd who joined our crime and fiction room recently. I am sure he will know if anything is missing.
I know Germany is our neighbour, but though I have heard about great TV-series (and watched one or two), I don´t know much about their crime writers.

Anonymous said...

Count me among the Andrea Maria Schenkel fans - I loved her first and am keenly awaiting the second book. Ice Moon was also absolutely tremendous - but there does appear to be a distinct lack of translated German crime fiction around for some reason. I've been watching for a while now and don't seem to be able to find many at all.

Lauren said...

Hello there,

Let me have a bit of a think about this one and get back to you. I read a lot of crime fiction in German, but the majority of it's translated from Scandinavian languages.

I can't say that I've checked whether the German-written books I've read have been translated into English, but my instinct is to say that most of them haven't. Not entirely without cause, I'd have to say - I generally prefer police procedurals, and I've read quite a few seriously bland efforts. Though in the search-for-a-new-Wallander-era, I do wonder why Jan Seghers' novels haven't made it into English yet.

Then there's also the problem that the two authors I've probably most enjoyed of late - Veit Heinichen and Nicholas Remin - set their books in Italy, and I'm not sure how well that would sell in translation.

Oh, and Ice Moon was indeed excellent. And Dorte, you're right about the hordes of German tv crime series...I doubt there's a place too small for an episode of Tatort!

PS: Regarding your list, there are three other Craig Russell novels, all set in Hamburg. And at least one novel by Pieke Biermann has been translated.

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hi I'VE read a lot of crime fiction in German too, but I couldn't understand well this language due to it is translate many times.

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