Hamburg State Prosecutor Chastity Riley and her colleagues investigate the murders of men with a history of abuse towards women ... as a startling, horrifying series of revelations emerge. Germany's Queen of Krimi returns with the darkly funny, mesmerizingly dark next instalment in an addictive series...
Blends black comedy with real anger to produce a serious indictment of the male gaze. Simone Buchholz can make you grin, gasp or gag at will Mark Sanderson, The Times
Such a revelation Laura Lippman
Beautifully concise, with commendably sparse prose, dark humour and an appealing protagonist ... uncompromising, provocative and righteously fierce Laura Wilson, Guardian
German-American Chastity Riley [is] snooty, churlish, sarcastic, sometimes drunk and always inappropriate. The whole series breaks the boundaries of typical crime novels Romy Hausmann
**Book of the Month in The Times, Guardian and Literary Review**
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When neatly packed male body parts wash up by the River Elbe, Hamburg State Prosecutor Chastity Riley and her colleagues begin a perplexing investigation.
As the murdered men are identified, it becomes clear that they all had a history of abuse towards women, leading Riley to wonder if it would actually be in society's best interests to catch the killers.
But when her best friend Carla is attacked, and the police show little interest in tracking down the offenders, Chastity takes matters into her own hands. As a link between the two cases emerges, horrifying revelations threaten Chastity's own moral compass, and put everything at risk...
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Beautifully written in cool, witty prose N.J. Cooper, Literary Review
A distinctive voice, and a flawed but compelling protagonist. This is vintage Buchholz - style and sass and St Pauli Will Carver
Praise for the Chastity Riley series
***WINNER of the CWA Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger***
***WINNER of the German Crime Book of the Year Award***
Ice-cool, effortlessly classy prose Observer
Reading Buchholz is like walking on firecrackers Graeme Macrae Burnet
Gruesome and assured, Buchholz's work remains as persuasive as ever Financial Times
Simone Buchholz writes with real authority and a pungent, noir-ish sense of time and space ... a palpable hit Independent
With brief, pacy chapters and fizzling dialogue, this almost feels like American procedural noir and not a translation Maxim Jakubowski
There is a fantastic pace to the story ... a unique voice that delivers a stylish story NB Magazine
A smart and witty book that shines a probing spotlight on society CultureFly
A must-read, stylish and highly original take on the detective novel Judith O'Reilly
A real blast of adrenaline Big Issue
Elmore Leonard fans will be enthralled Publishers Weekly
Buchholz doles out delicious black humour [and] ramps up the intrigue and tension Foreword Reviews
Fierce enough to stab the heart Spectator
A modern classic CrimeTime
A stylish, whip-smart thriller Herald Scotland