A summer of murder - Oliver Bottini

The second of the Black Forest Investigations - "Its plot bristles with invention" Guardian


It has been a long dry summer in the Black Forest idyll of Kirchzarten. When
the local fire brigade is called to a burning farm shed, a volunteer is
killed as a weapons cache beneath it explodes. The small community is
shocked to the core. Louise Bon, back with Freiburg Kripo after a period
of withdrawal, is assigned to the task force dealing with the case.

The meagre
evidence they gather points to a possible connection with German neo-Nazis
or illegal arms dealers from the former Yugoslavia, but the appearance of
secret service agents marking out the forest suggests more is at
stake. Acting as her partner in the case is Thomas Ilic, whose allegiances are as conflicted as Bon's.
Who is in fact working
for whom? In the most challenging case of her career - and one that puts
her in mortal danger - Bon must to overcome the ghosts of her past that continue
to haunt her.


Oliver Bottini is a fresh and exciting voice in the world of crime fiction;
the Rhine borderlands of the Black Forest are a perfect setting for his
beautifully crafted mysteries.

Praise for ZEN
AND THE ART OF MURDER - now shortlisted for the CWA INTERNATIONAL DAGGER:

"Surprising and genuinely shocking" Joan Smith, Sunday Times

"Gripping" Sebastian Shakespeare, Tatler

"An atmospheric, original story that will keep you hooked to the final heart-rending revelations" Crime Review

Translated from the German by Jamie Bulloch