Krimi book club 🔎 đŸ”Ș - Now voting!

I must confess I am enjoying this new book club way more than I expected :laughing: Maybe it’s just the book, but I also like to read your questions and answer them (it’s such a relief to be able to confidently answer them compared to Japanese :rofl:) and so I was thinking whether it isn’t about time for the next poll, with only two more weeks left in our current book?
Also, I prepared for the possibility of a new poll by walking past my friendly neighbourhood bookstore and browsing their “books on sale” book box :grin: Will submit two new proposals in the next few minutes.

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Title: Rosenkohl und tote Bete: Schrebergartenkrimi | L30??
Book type: Krimi
Available formats: physical / ebook / audiobook

Summary - German

Cultureclash im Schrebergarten und eine Leiche im GemĂŒsebeet: »Rosenkohl und tote Bete« ist der erste Band einer humorvollen Krimi-Reihe rund um eine Schrebergarten-Kolonie in Berlin.

Eben hat sich Ex-Polizist Manne Nowak noch voller Vorfreude auf das Garten-Jahr eingestimmt, da wird die Ruhe in der Berliner Kleingartenanlage »Harmonie« empfindlich gestört – und zwar von Mannes neuen Nachbarn:
Eike und Caro von Ribbek machen irgendwas mit »Social Media«, haben vom GĂ€rtnern ganz offensichtlich keine Ahnung und wollen Manne zu den ersten GrillwĂŒrstchen des Jahres einen Quinoa-Salat andrehen! Als wĂ€re das nicht genug, wird in ihrem GemĂŒsebeet eine Leiche entdeckt. Weil die Polizei den Falschen verdĂ€chtigt – nĂ€mlich Manne –, beschließt Caro, dass sie die Sache selbst in die Hand nehmen mĂŒssen.
Na das kann ja heiter werden!

Wer gern im Garten werkelt, wird an dieser Krimi-Reihe seine helle Freude haben: Mit viel Humor und einem frischen Blick auf den Mikrokosmos Schrebergarten erweckt Mona Nikolay ihre liebevoll gezeichneten Figuren zum Leben und sorgt dafĂŒr, dass die Spannung nicht zu kurz kommt.

Summary - English

Not yet


Content Warnings

Hm, not sure whether “Schrebergarten” does qualify as content warning :rofl:

Reason(s) for nominating: Sounds like a lighthearted and humorous Krimi. I like the title at least :rofl: Also, I read two or three sentences and they did not sound too hard, so I’m expecting this to be a good fit for language learners.

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Title: Zerteilt: True-Crime-Thriller | L30??
Book type: True-Crime-Thriller (whatever that means
)
Available formats: physical / ebook

Summary - German

Der abschließende Höhepunkt von Michael Tsokos’ True-Crime-Reihe um Rechtsmediziner Dr. Fred Abel, in dem ein religiöser AttentĂ€ter seine Opfer in AufzĂŒgen attackiert

Berlin wird von einer Reihe islamistischer AnschlĂ€ge erschĂŒttert. Ein AttentĂ€ter attackiert Menschen in AufzĂŒgen – wiederholt, mit eskalierender Gewalt. Dabei agiert der Unbekannte so geschickt, dass keine Überwachungskamera ihn zeigt, keine Zeugen ihn beschreiben können.
Rechtsmediziner Fred Abel, stellvertretender Leiter der rechtsmedizinischen BKA-Einheit „Extremdelikte“, obduziert mit seinem Team unter Hochdruck die Opfer der AnschlĂ€ge. Können die Verletzungen der Getöteten RĂŒckschlĂŒsse auf den TĂ€ter geben?
Unterdessen schwebt die frĂŒhere LebensgefĂ€hrtin seines besten Freundes Lars Moewig in akuter Lebensgefahr. Marie wurde Zeugin eines eiskalten Mordes, und trotz Polizeischutz in einem Safe House entgeht sie nur um Haaresbreite einem Mordanschlag. Abel ist sich sicher, dass sich ein Maulwurf in den eigenen Reihen befindet, der ihm und Moewig immer einen Schritt voraus ist.

In seinem letzten Fall muss Rechtsmediziner Fred Abel nicht nur sein gesamtes rechtsmedizinisches Können, sondern auch sein langjÀhriges kriminalistisches Wissen aufbieten, um die TÀter zu finden und das Morden zu stoppen.

Summary - English

Not yet


Content Warnings

Religious fanatism, terror attack

Reason(s) for nominating: I found it in my bookstore’s “Books on Sale” box :woman_shrugging: and it’s a Spiegel Bestseller, so what can possibly go wrong?
Cons:

  • I checked the language and it sounded quite difficult, but I’m proposing it anyway because there were only very few language related questions in the previous book club, so I figured we might need to crank up the volume :sunglasses:
  • The subject matter of the book might not be digestible for everybody (religious fanatism and terror).
  • Last not least, it’s the 5th and final book in a series (but from what I understand, it’s just the protag that is the same, so I expect the cases to be unrelated) so this might feel weird. It’s just what I found in the box. :woman_shrugging: If anybody wants to nominate the first book of the series, I’m also happy with that.
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I’m also enjoying it a lot and I’m very happy to have brought my dusty, rusty German out of storage again. I’m even (very slowly, and to the cost of my Japanese reading) reading another German book on the side (Der Schwarm).

Thread participation has been getting lower however, and I’m not sure how to interpret it. For me, it’s mainly that I’ve been travelling a lot lately so it wasn’t practical to keep notes and ask detailed questions, so I just went with the flow. It was also impractical to type long comments. Is it the same for others? Or are there other reasons?

I guess we need a poll:

  • I would like to start another book right after this one
  • I’d prefer a short break between books (~ a couple of weeks)
  • I’d prefer longer breaks between books (~ a couple of months)
  • Something else (please elaborate)
  • I don’t plan to continue with this club (but whyyyyy?)
0 voters
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Oh! I happen to own it (picked it up from some public bookshelf because the name rang a bell) but haven’t read it yet - is it any good? I might want to join you - how far are you in?
If you like, we could also set up an informal club for it as well :sunglasses:

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I’m sure you’ll catch up in no time, I’m only at 11%. Reading it as a club, even an informal one, will definitely make me read a little faster. It’s a huge book though, as I’m sure you know if you own the paperback.

So far it’s still mostly setting the stage, but I like it. The characters are likeable, and there’s a sense of something sinister happening that we don’t quite know much about. And it takes place in the sea, which is something I’d been looking for :grin:

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I would love to join as well, if you’ll set up a club for it :smiley: (unfortunately I am not a big commenter on stuff :see_no_evil: as you might have picked up on with the current book club read - if you even noticed, that I am reading along lol)

In the poll above I picked “wait a few weeks”, but I would also be okay with reading the next book directly after achtsam morden.

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My library has 2 audiobooks for it
 one is 12 hours, the other 38 hours
 both say “unabridged”
 :melting_face:

Edit: well, I’ve put a hold on the 38 hours version
 :eyes:

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That’s quite a difference in length! :sweat_smile:
I assume one is a fast straight reading, and the other has all sorts of sound effects and meaningful pauses?

(by the way I voted for a couple weeks pause, but I’m fine with any option really, even starting the next book at once - maybe I should have allowed multiple options)

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It seems as if the 12h one is a Hörspiel (radio drama? I am not sure about the correct English term) and the 38h one is the complete reading.

Edit: source is the german Wikipedia page Der Schwarm – Wikipedia (under “Hörspiel”)

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Okayokayokay, I’m already convinced :rofl:

Happy diving!

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If we read another book immediately, our start date would be August 26. Two weeks break takes us to September 9. Taking (based on our current poll results) September 9 as the tentative start date, we should probably have decided our next pick by September 2 so as to give people a week to get the book. Which means we’d need to start our poll on August 26. So for now, and as long as the poll results don’t change significantly, August 25 is the last day for accepting new nominations.

TLDR: Post your new nominations until August 25 to have them included in the next poll! :slight_smile:

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Title:

Book type: novel
Available formats: physical / ebook / audiobook

Summary - German

Es geschah am hellichten Tag 


Eigentlich sollte sich Kommissar Matthai, der auf der Höhe seiner Karriere angelangt ist, zum Flug nach Jordanien fertigmachen, um dort ein ehrenvolles Amt zu ĂŒbernehmen. Da erreicht ihn ein Anruf aus MĂ€gendorf, einem kleinen Ort bei ZĂŒrich. Ein ihm unbekannter Hausierer teilt ihm mit, er habe im Wald die Leiche eines grausam verstĂŒmmelten MĂ€dchens gefunden. Obwohl Matthais Abflug kurz bevor steht, fĂ€hrt er nach MĂ€gendorf und verspricht den Eltern des Kindes nicht zu rasten, bis er den TĂ€ter entlarvt hat.

Summary - English

It happened in broad daylight 

Inspector Matthai, who is at the height of his career, should actually be getting ready to fly to Jordan to take up an honourable post there. Then he receives a call from MĂ€gendorf, a small town near Zurich. A peddler he doesn’t know tells him that he has found the body of a horribly mutilated girl in the forest. Although Matthai’s departure is imminent, he travels to MĂ€gendorf and promises the child’s parents that he will not rest until he has unmasked the perpetrator.

Content Warnings

The book deals with sexual assault of children but I don’t know how much detail there is given.

Reason(s) for nominating: Just adding some “classics” of the German literature canon. :smiling_face: (The book came after the movie and they are not the same.)

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On a side note: If someone is interessted in a real classic:

This is basically the first crime story in German. It was written in the early 1800s and takes place in the late 1600s. I had to read this for school and I do remember not hating it, but that’s pretty much all I remember. :rofl:

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Available for free here:
E. T. A. Hoffmann: Das FrÀulein von Scuderi (projekt-gutenberg.org)

For something written in the early 1800s the language is very straightforward (judging from the first few sentences, I may well have to eat my words later on).

The title is very familiar, but I don’t remember if I have actually read it or just know about it.

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There is also an official Reclam Hörbuch on Spotify (free) and a (decent) amateur reading on librivox (also free). :smiling_face:

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I voted several months break as I am simply too busy :sweat_smile: I like to have at least one german book going at all times, and I don’t want it to be always a krimi. Of course I could also simply skip the next book depending on what it is.

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Re: Das Versprechen, I actually read this last year or the year before (a friend forced me to :blush:) and I thought it was excellent! The language was a bit old-fashioned but otherwise it was a very nice read. Also the pages are pretty small :sweat_smile: so I could read it quite fast. Thanks for nominating!

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So many people from the Japanese book clubs ! :hugs:

I’m starting really late (that is
 today) with Achtsam Morden, but I’d like to nominate a book for our future reads :

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Title: Der nasse Fisch (Die Gereon-Rath-Romane 1): Der erste Rath-Roman | Vom Autor der Romanvorlage zu Babylon Berlin | L30??
Book type: Historical krimi
Available formats: physical / ebook / audiobook

Summary - German

Der erste Fall der Gereon Rath-Bestsellerreihe

Mit diesem Roman beginnt die spektakulĂ€re Serie, in der Kutscher seinen Kriminalkommissar Gereon Rath in die politischen und gesellschaftlichen UmbrĂŒche im Berlin der spĂ€ten 20er-Jahre fĂŒhrt. Rath, neu in Berlin und abgestellt bei der Sitte, erlebt eine Weltstadt im Rausch, die von sozialen und politischen Spannungen zerrissen ist. Ungefragt schaltet sich der Kommissar in die stagnierenden Ermittlungen eines Mordfalls ein – und stĂ¶ĂŸt in ein Wespennest. Dann verliebt Rath sich in Charly, Stenotypistin in der Mordkommission, und missbraucht ihr Insiderwissen fĂŒr seine einsamen Ermittlungen.

Summary - English

It’s 1929 and Berlin is the vibrating metropolis of post-war Germany—full of bars and brothels and dissatisfied workers at the point of revolt. Gereon Rath is new in town and new to the police department.

When a dead man without an identity, bearing traces of atrocious torture, is discovered, Rath sees a chance to find his way back into the homicide division. He discovers a connection with a circle of oppositional exiled Russians who try to purchase arms with smuggled gold in order to prepare a coup d’état. But there are other people trying to get hold of the gold and the guns, too. Raths finds himself up against paramilitaries and organized criminals. He falls in love with Charlotte, a typist in the homicide squad, and misuses her insider’s knowledge for his personal investigations. And as he gets further entangled with the case, he never imagined becoming a suspect himself.

Content Warnings

It’s Germany between the two world wars
 so some characters will express strong feelings towards Jews, Communists, same-sex relationships, etc


Reason(s) for nominating: I’m very interested in this political and historical era, and the book gives a good idea of it. It’s part of a series, I’ve read 4 or 5 of them, and each book takes place, sequentially, in a different year, so you follow not only the main characters, but also the changes in society. The krimi part in itself is solidly written, and the main characters are not pure heroes or villains. There is a television series, which is also quite good

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That series sounds very interesting. :eyes:

and I finally found my library card again
 :eyes:

:eyes: :eyes: :eyes:

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