Hunkeler, now a retired inspector of the Basel police force, is hospitalized and sharing a room with Stephan Fankhauser, an old acquaintance terminally ill with cancer. One night, a groggy Hunkeler wakes up to see a young nurse with a ruby ring on her hand administering an injection to his friend. The following day Fankhauser is found dead.
Was the injection just a dream? Does the night nurse not usually wear a small diamond ring? There was no autopsy and a quick cremation. Hunkeler resolves to get to the bottom of the matter despite the objections of his ex-colleagues, who want the retired inspector to stay well clear of the investigation.
Hansjörg Schneider 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.
Translator Astrid Freuler lives in Lidney, Gloucestershire. She has published translations of non-fiction and fiction, including the crime thriller A Shadow Falls by Andreas Pflüger.
My thoughts: This was really interesting and clever. Hunkeler lives in a narrow wedge of three countries meeting, France, Switzerland and Germany, the police of each nation must cooperate, but don’t always get along and the strange coincidence of several senior people from a Swiss bank dying and being arrested around the same time, has them worried.
But despite being retired, and pretty sure the police are barking up all the wrong trees, it is former Inspector Hunkeler who solves all the mysteries. Along the way he meets his granddaughter and makes up with his daughter, rescues a bewildered artist who just wants to be left alone, adopts a goat and eats some really good cheese.
I really enjoyed this, even if I didn’t understand all the stuff about people from Bergen (maybe you have to be Swiss?), I liked its wry, dryly comic tone, as Hunkeler outwits his former colleagues and does his own thing.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
ramblingmads 