Hunkeler's Secret - (The Inspector Hunkeler) by Hansjörg Schneider (Paperback)

About the Book

"Hunkeler, now a retired inspector of the Basel police force, is hospitalized following an operation. He's sharing a room with cancer patient Stephan Fankhauser, an old acquaintance and former head of Basel Volksbank. One night, a groggy Hunkeler witnesses something that makes him question his senses: a young nurse is administering an injection to his friend. When he is told the next day that Fankhauser has died, Hunkeler grows suspicious. The body is quickly cremated with no autopsy performed, leaving Hunkeler determined to get to the bottom of the matter. His unorthodox investigation uncovers truths that will threaten Switzerland's carefully curated reputation of neutrality during WWII."--

Book Synopsis

Hunkeler, now a retired inspector of the Basel police force, is hospitalized following an operation. He's sharing a room with cancer patient Stephan Fankhauser, an old acquaintance and former head of Basel Volksbank. One night, a groggy Hunkeler witnesses something that makes him question his senses: a young nurse is administering an injection to his friend. When he is told the next day that Fankhauser has died, Hunkeler grows suspicious. The body is quickly cremated with no autopsy performed, leaving Hunkeler determined to get to the bottom of the matter. His unorthodox investigation uncovers truths that will threaten Switzerland's carefully curated reputation of neutrality during WWII.

Review Quotes

Basel Killings:

Listed in What to Read this Week in the WSJ.

" An excellent first mystery and series launch This gripping, plausible debut bodes well for future entries." Publishers Weekly (STARRED)

"A magnetic central character, a skillful and unhistrionic telling and a dose of political realism make this book a very welcome arrival." Morning Star

"Looks ideal for anyone who enjoys reading about detectives like Martin Beck, Wallander or even Maigret" CrimeFictionLover

"A disturbing picture of a cruelty that has lain undiscussed behind the façade of Swiss propriety and complacency; and all the while he keeps us guessing right to the end." European Literature Network

Silver Pebbles:

BEST NEW THRILLERS FINANCIAL TIMES: " Basel may be Swiss, but like all border cities it's anything but squeaky clean, especially in this fast-paced, gritty story."

"Reminiscent of Wallander and Rebus, a little jaded, a bit rebellious and always independent with a strong intuition. The style is reminiscent of elements of earlier Swiss crime novelists Glauser and Durrenmatt work.--NB Magazine

"Hunkeler has been compared to Simenon's Inspector Maigret, though there are no wreaths of pipe smoke or constant breaks for a quick digestif. After all, Basel is not Paris, it is cleaner, greyer and harder. Perhaps that's the point." --Shotsmag

Murder of Anton Livius:

The novel is sophisticated, well-written, witty, as in the description of the pompous, class-obsessed author of detective novels, and short. I was very impressed."---The Critic

If you want proof that the Swiss certainly did not spend five hundred years of brotherly love inventing the cuckoo clock, try one of the Inspector Hunkeler books by Hansjörg Schneider, the latest to appear in translation, The Murder of Anton Livius, is now published by Bitter Lemon Press. Like Maigret, Hunkeler seems to solve crimes by some form of osmosis from the numerous restaurants and bars he visits (and there is a lot of snacking in this book) in either the frosty Swiss heartland of Emmental or over the border from his base in Basel into Alsace. ShotsMag

About the Author

Author Hansjörg Schneider (born 1938) lives in Basel and began his professional career as a journalist and essayist. He is the author of a number of highly acclaimed plays and of the bestselling Hunkeler crime series, now with ten titles published. "The Basel Killings" was awarded The Friedrich Glauser Prize, Germany's most prestigious crime fiction prize.

Translator Astrid Freuler lives in Lidney, Gloucestershire. She is a young translator from German and has published translations of non-fiction and fiction, including the crime thriller A Shadow Falls by Andreas Pflüger. She also translated The Murder of Anton Livius by Hansjörg Schneider.