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A review by beaconatnight
Wachtmeister Studer by Friedrich Glauser
4.0
"Ich brauche weniger die Tatsachen als die Luft, in der die Leute gelebt haben "
Confronted with a dead end in his investigations Sergeant Studer reflects on something a coworker once said to him. On the countryside it's much more difficult to solve crimes; unlike the anonymity of bigger cities, everyone knows everyone, they cover for each other, they have an interest to tell lies or to misguide. I think this well sums up the difficulties Studer encounters during his homicide investigations in Gerzenstein.
I absolutely loved the novel's unique atmosphere. To me it read like the crime thriller version of Berlin Alexanderplatz. It was written in 1935 and there are hard-to-define vibes of times past. I felt immediately drawn to Sergeant Studer for the empathy he shows towards poor Erwin Mord whom he believes might be falsely accused of the murder of Wendelin Witschi. He's kind of droll yet deeply melancholic. Due to some scandal in his past at his old age he's still only a sergeant. But when he took an interest in a case he's tireless – not even a pleurisy slows him down – to see it to an end.
The writing style of Friedrich Glauser is commonly described as being more concerned with the atmosphere and environment than with the investigation in the narrower sense. I think the quote above, expressed by Studer to urge a character to tell him of suspects involved in the case, puts this approach in a nutshell. The alluding prose and often unsettling dialogs add to this overall impression.
This being said, I was still amazed by the many pieces to the puzzle that Studer discovers during his three-days stay in Gerzenstein. The dead body had no greenery on his back (what might this mean?), there is a gun and brass, money, certain lies, ashes, two gun shots. He has to deal with many ex-convicts. He's offered a good position if he leaves. Then there is the rest of the Witschi family, what might they be hiding? From the very beginning I felt the big reveal is right around the corner, and the eventual conclusion was genuinely satisfying when we learn the two-staged twist of what was going on.
To my mind Wachtmeister Studer, or Schlumpf Erwin Mord as the first book in the series has later been called, would have had all the right to become a bona fide classic of the thriller genre. I'm not a big expert (so maybe I'm not representative), but until recently I hadn't even heard of the series or its author. If nothing else, at least it would be deserving of a high-profile TV adaptation.
Rating: 4/5
Confronted with a dead end in his investigations Sergeant Studer reflects on something a coworker once said to him. On the countryside it's much more difficult to solve crimes; unlike the anonymity of bigger cities, everyone knows everyone, they cover for each other, they have an interest to tell lies or to misguide. I think this well sums up the difficulties Studer encounters during his homicide investigations in Gerzenstein.
I absolutely loved the novel's unique atmosphere. To me it read like the crime thriller version of Berlin Alexanderplatz. It was written in 1935 and there are hard-to-define vibes of times past. I felt immediately drawn to Sergeant Studer for the empathy he shows towards poor Erwin Mord whom he believes might be falsely accused of the murder of Wendelin Witschi. He's kind of droll yet deeply melancholic. Due to some scandal in his past at his old age he's still only a sergeant. But when he took an interest in a case he's tireless – not even a pleurisy slows him down – to see it to an end.
The writing style of Friedrich Glauser is commonly described as being more concerned with the atmosphere and environment than with the investigation in the narrower sense. I think the quote above, expressed by Studer to urge a character to tell him of suspects involved in the case, puts this approach in a nutshell. The alluding prose and often unsettling dialogs add to this overall impression.
This being said, I was still amazed by the many pieces to the puzzle that Studer discovers during his three-days stay in Gerzenstein. The dead body had no greenery on his back (what might this mean?), there is a gun and brass, money, certain lies, ashes, two gun shots. He has to deal with many ex-convicts. He's offered a good position if he leaves. Then there is the rest of the Witschi family, what might they be hiding? From the very beginning I felt the big reveal is right around the corner, and the eventual conclusion was genuinely satisfying when we learn the two-staged twist of what was going on.
To my mind Wachtmeister Studer, or Schlumpf Erwin Mord as the first book in the series has later been called, would have had all the right to become a bona fide classic of the thriller genre. I'm not a big expert (so maybe I'm not representative), but until recently I hadn't even heard of the series or its author. If nothing else, at least it would be deserving of a high-profile TV adaptation.
Rating: 4/5