Black Ice

by Hans Werner Kettenbach, Anthea Bell (Translator)

Overview

“A natural storyteller who, just like Patricia Highsmith, is interested in teasing out the catastrophes that result from the banal coincidences of daily life.”—Weltwoche

When Erika, an attractive local heiress, falls to her death near her lakeside villa, the police conclude it was a tragic accident. Scholten, a longtime employee of Erika’s, isn’t so sure. He knows a thing or two about the state of her marriage and suspects an almost perfect crime. Scholten’s maverick investigation into the odd, inexplicable details of the death scene soon buys him a ticket for a most dangerous ride.

This beautifully crafted thriller, set in a European world of small-town hypocrisy, was a bestseller made into the film Glatteis.

In 2009 Hans Werner Kettenbach won the Glauser award (Germany's most prestigious crime writing prize) for lifetime literary achievement.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781904738084
Publisher:	Bitter Lemon Press, Ltd
Publication date:	02/01/2006
Pages:	334
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.80(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Kettenbach is 75 and still writing. He published his first novel age 50 and his most recent one in May 04. In all Kettenbach has produced twelve works of fiction of which five, including Black Ice, were made into films.Previous jobs he has held include court stenographer,football journalist, foreign correspondent and newspaper editor. Translator of The Snowman.

Editorial Reviews

Was 46-year-old Erika Wallmann's death an accident or suicide? Neither, according to Jupp Scholten, a low-level employee in the civil engineering firm run by Wallmann's richer, older husband, in Kettenbach's slow-paced and dated 1982 novel, his first to be published in English. Despite the husband's obvious motive-the firm was owned by his wife-the police conclude the death was accidental, but Scholten can't let the matter go, for two reasons. Erika once confided in Scholten, hinting that her marriage to the boss was on the ropes, but the biggest motivation for the clerk is that his life is so unrelentingly depressing. His ailing shrew of a wife makes his home life miserable; his job is deadly dull; he's filled with bitterness and anger; and he wants to take down his hated boss. The mystery of Erika's death is compelling enough, but there's barely anything else for a reader to relish, from the unlikable characters to the turgid prose (possibly a translation issue). (Feb.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

An office worker goes to extremes to prove that the boss's wife was murdered by the boss. At the funeral of popular local benefactress Erika Wallmann, Jupp Scholten, a longtime employee of Erika's widower, can't believe the confident Erika died from a reported fall or from rumored suicide. Scholten, 58, began working for Kottgen Civil Engineering Contractors way back when Erika's father ran the office, and he may have had a crush on her. Now rumors that Kurt Wallmann is sleeping with his secretary lead Scholten to suspect him of murder. Knowing that Erika fell down a flight of stairs at the Wallmanns' lakeside villa makes Scholten launch scattershot and impatient inquiries to the local newspaper, library and police station to determine whether it's possible to make a patch of ice outdoors. Scholten's domestic life, meanwhile, is a shambles. Henpecked by his wife Hilde, he has no friends but his cat Manny, regularly visits prostitutes and hits on fellow office workers, none of whom take him seriously. As Scholten gets closer to proving Wallmann's guilt, he comes up with the audacious idea of following Wallmann's example and killing his own wife. A devilish dive into an obsessed mind by a prolific German crime writer (Davids Rasche, 1996, etc.). Despite, or because of, his many humorous quirks, Scholten is also a convincing Everyman.

Kirkus Reviews