Crime Fiction in German: Der Krimi ed. by Katharina Hall (review)

Crime pays. Literary crime, that is. While the economic and scholarly value of Anglo-American crime fiction is well established, the full potential of the German-language genre has not been reached. Much of the English-speaking world is still unacquainted with the rich history and diversity of German-language crime fiction. Katharina Hall’s volume on der Krimi adeptly addresses that void as the first survey of German-language crime fiction from the early nineteenth century to the new millennium for English-speaking readers. The scope in particular distinguishes this study from other recent research. Starting out from a broad understanding of crime fiction, eight chapters address key areas of the genre’s complex history including analyses of crime fiction in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, and in four recent subgenres: the Afrika-Krimi, the Frauenkrimi, twentieth-century historical crime, and the Fernsehkrimi. The readings offer an extensive diachronic examination of German-language crime fiction across geographical, generic, and thematic boundaries to underscore a vibrant genre.

Crime Fiction in German is a compact but informative and accessible study. The volume begins with an extensive introduction by author and editor Katharina Hall that outlines the study’s aims and structure, defines key terminology, and provides a diachronic overview of the development, trends, and authors of German-language crime fiction in their socio-historical context. Each of the seven subsequent chapters expands on a variant of German-language crime fiction in its socio-historical and literary context, each ending with an English extract from a featured work. Additional useful resources include a map of Europe’s German-speaking areas, a chronological table of German-language crime fiction with key corresponding historical events, an exceptional ten-page annotated bibliography of resources on German-language crime fiction, and an extensive index. These resources offer English-speaking scholars and crime enthusiasts valuable tools to better understand and further research the genre’s rich history.

The introduction begins by identifying the study’s three primary aims: (1) to provide the first comprehensive English overview of German-language crime fiction from the early 1800s to the early 2000s; (2) to introduce rea-ders to key areas of crime fiction in German; and, (3) to broaden the under-standing of the long and thriving tradition of German-language crime fiction. Hall follows these stated aims with brief definitions of key terms such as Krimi and with an overview of two-hundred-plus years of German-language crime fiction that serves as a roadmap for the subsequent chapters. Particularly insightful are the author’s concluding remarks on a persisting gap in an otherwise rich crime tradition, namely the lack of identifiable texts by Jewish-German, Jewish-Austrian, and Jewish-Swiss authors.

The seven chapters that follow expand on distinct areas of the German-language crime genre written by expert scholars in the field. Each contribution considers key authors and texts in their respective socio-historical contexts and most include references to additional scholarship, although the focus of these elements differs. Some of the chapters highlight a tradition with examples of works by a few representative authors (i.e., Mary Tannert’s, Marieke Krajenbrink’s and Martin Rosenstock’s respective analyses of the genre’s German origins and of the Austrian and Swiss traditions). Others place more emphasis on the socio-historical context (i.e., Julia Augarts’s “Der Afrika-Krimi,” Faye Stewart’s “Der Frauenkrimi,” and Katharina Hall’s “Historical Crime Fiction in German”). The short, final chapter on “Der Fernsehkrimi” supplements the preceding predominately text-based analyses with an extensive list of TV crime shows since 1958 and a consideration of how the programs, themes, and detectives reflect the changing socio-historical conditions in West and East Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

From the many well-written and highly informative chapters, the one of particular interest for Austrian studies is Marieke Krajenbrink’s “Austrian Crime Fiction: Experimentation, Critical Memory, and Humour.” This insightful analysis outlines distinctive characteristics, trends, authors, and texts from Austria, focusing in...