Hinterkaifeck

CLEWS is so often mistaken for a British site that I'll say again that I am proud to hail from Detroit, Michigan, USA. Which means I'm used to living in a permanent recession, often find myself saying goodbye to friends who must move out of state, and can hardly bear to listen to NPR anymore or even any Detroit music stations. I am sick-sick-sick of Bob Seger, Ted Nugent, Alice Cooper, Kid Rock, Eminem, R-E-S-P-E-C-T, and The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. If I hear Seger sing Night Moves one more f*#&#g time, I swear I'll bust my radio.

All good reasons to find a great book to occupy my mind. In this age of gnawing economic problems, as the rest of America considers catching up to Detroit's alarming unemployment and murder rates, I find myself reading even more.

A new book about the Hinterkaifeck case just caught my eye. Steve Huff introduced me to this German mystery in an elegant piece he wrote a few years ago. Now I hear that a German author, Andrea Maria Schenkel, has novelized the bizarre multiple murder case from 1922. The result is a smash bestseller in Germany titled Tannöd that has attracted attention worldwide.

Translated into English and now titled The Murder Farm [Amazon; not on B&N], it has been released in the US, Canada, UK, and Australia, among other places.  The Spectator called it "impressive" while the Telegraph called it "brave, mesmerizing... a grown-up crime novel"  that examines the reasons why societies are afraid to face evil. The Times called it "remarkable, sparse, chilling."

Normally I like my crime stories straight; no fictionalizing (ever). But I grant a rare exception to the rule for certain books. One, they must be advertised as fiction. Two, they cannot fly in the face of the known evidence by proposing wild alternative theories (a la The Weight of Water). Three, certain cases lend themselves to fictionalizing. Unsolved or inexplicable cases satisfy the bill. I would actually like to see a fictional version of the Nagyrev mystery.

Meanwhile, this German wonder is going on my to-get list. I'll read it with the radio off.

Comments

[Fiz]

Flexed my new bank card last night and bought this. Only I do wish it was non-fiction. And I wish I read German! It would have been nice if the 1975 book had been translated, and there's another 1979 book I want, "Stefanie" about Grand Duke Rudolf's widow (Of Mayerling fame), which is only available in German :-(

[craig henry]

Strange that she moved the date of the murders from 1922 into the 1950s.

[Fiz]

Oh, you're kidding! I wish I hadn't bought it now.

[LJ]

EWWW! I wonder why she did that? To appeal to baby boomers? To call on her own childhood?
Maybe I oughdda stick to nonfiction after all.
Fiz - please share your report!

[Fiz]

I will, if it ever arrives!

[Fiz]

It's written in the historical present, which I loathe as a style. I'm not very intersted so far ...