Jörg Maurer

(This is where I start to loathe stars. It's better than three but doesn't make it to four.)

The good: It was set in the Alps (on the border between Germany and Austria). The bad dude was revealed at the beginning - an unusual device for this genre - and I enjoyed not having the tension of wondering whodunnit. The tension was rather 'whosnext' and will der Kommissar and his team figure it out in time? Not so much the bodies leading to the killer but rather leading away. Nicely done.

The show more indifferent: I didn't buy into the killer's motivation because the implementation of the killings didn't reflect the original motivating experience. Obviously the less said here the better for those who might want to read this. The dry tone at times was grating, but often witzig, as well. Some of the asides regarding the interactions between the villagers were hilarious, if extraneous to the plot. But I found that quite refreshing.

Now, I did like the deus ex machina employed to catch the villain. A lovely use of a local phenomenon and only a little stretch of the imagination required to make it believable. However - it had absolutely nothing to do with the capabilities (rather lacking) of der Kommissar and his crew. Which brings me to:

The bad: The characterisations were either clunky or cliched. A Burgermeister that harasses the bakery shop girl for trying to sell him two Brez'n? No. Especially with a twenty-two Burger line-up behind him and an election around the corner - yes, it's funny to read, but completely outside the realm of reality. But the worst was the profile of the Kommissar and his psychology side-kick. Bland, boring and far too naive. In fact, the most likeable characters, the most well-drawn, were the accidental anarchist, the henchman with a heart of gold, and the fall-guy (all of whom deserve a mention under The Good, but that would ruin the structure (such as there is) of my review).

I'm not sure I was too impressed with the red-herring 'victims' - I was left with a sense of not knowing, at the end, just who had ended up 'gettingit' and which of the original bit part characters were no longer 'whereabouts unknown'.

Fazit: if you read German or want to practice a bit of Bayerisch, like stories with mountain village settings, and you prefer a crime novel with very little blood shed, a low body count, and an unusual twist on motivation and execution, this is definitely worth your attention. As are (probably) those three other characters I mentioned. show less

Auf der Wolzmüller-Alm oberhalb des idyllischen alpenländischen Kurorts wird eine Frauenleiche gefunden. Jennerweins Bemühungen, etwas über die „Tote ohne Gesicht“ zu erfahren, laufen ins Leere. Niemand im Ort will etwas über geheime Treffen auf der Alm gewusst haben, und der Bürgermeister bangt nur um seine Bollywood-Kontakte. Endlich verrät das Bestatterehepaar a.D. Grasegger dem Kommissar, dass es sich bei der Toten um die „Äbtissin“ handeln soll, eine branchenberühmte show more Auftragskillerin. Wer hat es geschafft, sie umzubringen? Da geschieht ein weiterer Almenmord, ein mysteriöser Maler gerät ins Fadenkreuz, und Jennerwein pirscht mit seiner Truppe durchs Unterholz… show less

fesselnd, die personen sind schon wie familien beim 6. buch und bleiben doch interessant. maurer ist ein profi des erzählens, der kriminalfall gerät fast in den hintergrund.

It was not half as funny as I thought. Being from Bavaria, I hoped for some nice, maybe ironic writing about the odd locals and a good crime story. The crime part was well constructed, but it was not overly entertaining.