Crime

'Mesmerising and utterly absorbing' New York Times

'A magnificent storyteller' Der Spiegel

A retired small-town doctor takes a garden axe to his cruel wife.

A woman laces her brother's food with barbiturates.

Two men steal a priceless Japanese tea bowl with brutal consequences.

What drives a person to commit a crime?

Our narrator knows that behind every misdeed is a story waiting to be told. In this collection of chilling cases, a nameless lawyer recounts the love, obsession, selfishness and despair that influenced his clients' irrevocable choices.

Drawn from Ferdinand von Schirach's eminent career as a criminal defence lawyer, Crime blends fiction with real life, each story a revealing, unsettling insight into what may compel a person to act beyond the law.

Mesmerizing . . . a slim, utterly absorbing collection of 11 stories plucked from [von Schirach's] legal career and told in a cool, patient voice that immediately draws the reader in -- Olen Steinhauer New York Times
Praise for Ferdinand von Schirach -
Addictive . . . fascinating The Spectator
Ice-cool, effortlessly classy prose Observer
Tantalising and disturbing in equal measure -- Laura Wilson Guardian
An exceptional prose stylist New York Times
A magnificent storyteller Der Spiegel
Psychologically raw . . . delivered in a crisp translation by Katharina Hall, his unfussy prose is icily effective . . . it suggests that all justice systems are flawed, that they are all just processes. And, with immense empathy, von Schirach's stories show what happens to people when they are processed. -- Christian House Financial Times
The stories are cool, meticulously crafted, pithy and mordantly amusing . . . this is an unsettling, affecting, extremely powerful book. Highly recommended -- Declan Hughes Irish Times
An impressive page-turner with substance and bite Bookmunch
Thrilling and edgy, often carrying a twist in the tale -- To the Ends of the Word blog

Ferdinand von Schirach was born in Munich in 1964, and has worked as a defence lawyer for twenty years. He published his first book at the age of 45 and has since published various short stories, novels, essays and plays. Ferdinand von Schirach's books have been translated into more than 40 languages, and have sold millions of copies worldwide. He lives in Berlin.

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