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Volker Kutscher used to write regional crime novels - then suddenly he was on the SPIEGEL bestseller list: "I was so proud that I tore the page out to show my parents."
Photo: Steffen Jänicke for SPIEGEL bestseller
If his audience has their way, the worst thing that ever happened in the novels of the writer Volker Kutscher was the death of a bitch.
Her name was Kirie, and she had grown dear to Kutscher's readers since she ran up to policeman Gereon Rath.
A few novels later, it was over for Kirie: The great criminal Johann Marlow broke her neck.
A moment of shock, of course, but the reactions the coachmen met at readings seem a little strange given the environment in which the dog murder took place.
In his novels, Kutscher describes Germany's path from the Weimar Republic to the Nazi dictatorship, with a lot of murder and even torture.
But he was not surprised by the reaction of his readers: "So many have no problem eating factory-farmed meat, but their pets shouldn't lack anything."
Translated into around 20 languages
Kutscher's ambitious project is a success, the eight books so far have sold well since 2008, the first volume in the series, “Der nasse Fisch”.
The new one, »Olympia«, entered the SPIEGEL bestseller list in second place, behind Sebastian Fitzek's »Der Heimweg«.
“It probably won't get any higher, nobody can get past Fitzek.
Except maybe Stan Libuda, ”says Kutscher and laughs.
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