Monday 5 February 2018

BEST OF CRIME with Simone Buchholz

Welcome to my latest BEST OF CRIME feature, looking at crime writers' top picks, from their favourite author and fictional detective to their best writing tip. 




Today I'm delighted to welcome 

SIMONE BUCHHOLZ

for her Blue Night blog tour

to share her BEST OF CRIME ...




... AUTHORS
Jakob Arjouni, because he was the first person to take the classic American hardboiled novel into a German city, into the blood-soaked, dirty area behind Frankfurt’s main station, and he did it so well.


... FILMS/MOVIES
Once upon a time in America, because of Robert de Niro and James Woods and the pictures of Tonino delli Colli.

... TV DRAMAS
Polizeiruf 110, a German TV series that originated in the GDR, the equivalent to the West German Tatort with different cops and crime stories in different German cities. It’s been completely modernised recently, and though I don’t like every story they tell, I adore the stories and the cop team from Rostock, a city in north-eastern Germany. It has fantastically drawn characters, a very modern way of storytelling using rough pictures, and the cast is full of the best German actors we have at the moment.

... FICTIONAL KILLERS
Evangeline in SMONK (by Tom Franklin)


... FICTIONAL DETECTIVES 
V.I. Warshawski by Sara Paretsky, because you must have seen this woman.


... MURDER WEAPONS
“La lupara bianca” – the white shotgun, practised mostly in South Italy: feeding someone to the pigs until there is nothing left but, for example, their glasses. Because I like Mafia stories.
    

... DEATH SCENES
When Jean-Paul Belmondo is shot in the back in The Professional, because it makes me cry every time, especially with the music of Ennio Morricone shooting me from behind.
  

... BLOGS/WEBSITES
www.polizei.hamburg


... WRITING TIPS
Quality comes from torment. And before writing, go for a walk, because your brain needs oxygen.


... WRITING SNACKS
Green tea and edamame during the day, to keep my head clear.
White wine and vodka at night (in the bar), to make my head foggy.


About SIMONE BUCHHOLZ
Simone Buchholz was born in Hanau in 1972. At university, she studied Philosophy and Literature, worked as a waitress and a columnist, and trained to be a journalist at the prestigious Henri-Nannen-School in Hamburg. In 2016, Simone Buchholz was awarded the Crime Cologne Award as well as runner-up for the German Crime Fiction Prize for Blue Night, which was number one on the KrimiZEIT Best of Crime List for months. She lives in Sankt Pauli, in the heart of Hamburg, with her husband and son.

Find Simone Buchholz on Twitter - @ohneKlippo


About BLUE NIGHT


Publisher's description
After convicting a superior for corruption and shooting off a gangster's crown jewels, the career of Hamburg's most hard-bitten state prosecutor, Chastity Riley, has taken a nose dive: she has been transferred to the tedium of witness protection to prevent her making any more trouble. However, when she is assigned to the case of an anonymous man lying under police guard in hospital - almost every bone in his body broken, a finger cut off, and refusing to speak in anything other than riddles - Chastity's instinct for the big, exciting case kicks in.

Read a snippet of my review
'Blue Night is a dark mix of gritty police procedural and rollercoaster ride, swirling with humour and affection, thanks to its feisty protagonist, Chas Riley. Sharp dialogue, an atmospheric setting and an intriguing plot kept me reading into the early hours.'

To read the rest of my review, click here.

Blue Night is being published by Orenda Books on 28 February 2018.


Look out for more BEST OF CRIME features coming soon.

Click here to read more BEST OF CRIME features.

Follow the Blog Tour





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