Harald Gilbers's Blog

In December this year the next adventure in the Oppenheimer series will be published in the original German edition.

Commissioner Oppenheimer chases the Al Capone of Berlin:

»Trümmertote« is the 7th part of the award-winning historical crime series from Berlin in the 1940s.

Berlin 1949: While the clean-up work progresses during the day, crime flourishes at night. Violent crimes in particular are increasing rapidly, and so commissioner Oppenheimer is not particularly surprised when a body is discovered on a rubble dump. A closer examination of the area reveals two more dead; all three men were brutally murdered. From a contact in the Berlin underworld, Oppenheimer learns that a youngster named Jo is promoting his rise to crime kingship following the example of Al Capone. Anyone who stands in the way of him and his gang has gambled away their life...

https://www.amazon.de/Tr%C3%BCmmertot...

Here we have a new podcast interview with me about my work and literature in general.

http://readingandwritingpodcast.com/h...

After finishing my next Oppenheimer novel I took some time to answer a thorough interview about my work. If you ever wondered when I started writing stories - here is the answer:

https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/2021...

A few days ago I handed in the manuscript of commissioner Oppenheimer's sixth case, to be published in Germany in autumn. The Italian and French editions will follow very soon.

Here is a short synopsis:

In 1948 Berlin is cut off from the west. Soviets blockade the city and once again, food is scarce for the residents of the western sectors. Children find a severed leg while playing on the banks of the Spree. A few days later, human organs are discovered on a ship, but they must have come from a second victim. Commissioner Oppenheimer is faced with a riddle, and investigations between the occupation zones are becoming almost impossible in the looming Cold War. Then he comes across a bizarre still life in the cellar of a ruin: a dead person sits at a dining table, naked and obviously composed of different body parts...

A new essay from me for Criminal Element. "Writing in the Shadows of Fritz Lang - Harald Gilbers, author of Germania, discusses his early influences, the profound impact the movies of Fritz Lang had on him, and the failures that made him the writer he is today."

https://www.criminalelement.com/writi...

Anybody interested in what I do when I'm not writing or reading? As the proud owner of a home cinema the answer is easy: Watching movies, of course!

Here you find a little piece about my movie madness.

https://dearreader.typepad.com/dear/2...

This month GERMANIA is featured on Amazon.com as Editors' Pick!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/browse.html...

GERMANIA is now an Editors' Choice of Historical Novel Society!

"More than a page-turner, Germania explores power—the ways it is used by those who have it and the effects on those who don’t."

https://historicalnovelsociety.org/re...

I feel deeply honored. Publishers Weekly has just given GERMANIA a coveted starred review.

https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-...

"What would it be like for a Jewish detective to work for the Nazis on a serial killer case? That’s the intriguing premise of Gilbers’s stellar debut, which won the Glauser Prize for the best German crime novel. ... Gilbers makes Oppenheimer’s fears, and the moral compromises he makes, palpable. Philip Kerr fans will want to check this out."

Watch out for a full interview with me in Publishers Weekly in about two weeks.

Waiting will be over soon. In 100 days the English translation of the first novel with comissioner Oppenheimer will be published. Simultaneously in the US, Canada and the UK.
Germania: A Novel of Nazi Berlin