Eifel crime author Jacques Berndorf is dead
Created: 07/04/2022, 16:26
The German author Jacques Berndorf is sitting at a reading in Cologne in 2013.
© Rolf Vennenbernd/picture alliance/dpa/archive picture
The well-known Eifel crime author Jacques Berndorf is dead. He died on Sunday at the age of 85 in his home in Dreis-Brück in the volcanic Eifel, his wife Geli Gatzke-Preute told the German Press Agency on Monday.
He was ill and died of old age after a long, eventful life.
Born in Duisburg, whose real name was Michael Preute, he was considered one of the most successful German crime writers in Germany and a co-inventor of regional crime fiction.
Dreis-Brück - According to its publisher Ralf Kramp, Berndorf has sold more than six million books.
It all started in 1989 with his first Eifel thriller "Eifel-Blues" - a good 20 more followed.
At the time, Berndorf was an important source of inspiration for the regional thriller boom, said Kramp in nearby Hillesheim.
"Berndorf has cracked the provinces." Before "Eifel-Blues" thrillers would have played primarily in large cities.
dpa
