The Basel Killings

Hunkeler #5

by Hansjörg Schneider, Mike Mitchell (Translator)

It is the end of October, the city of Basel is grey and wet. It could be December. It is just after midnight when Police Inspector Peter Hunkeler, on his way home and slightly worse for wear, spots old man Hardy sitting on a bench under a street light. He wants to smoke a cigarette with him, but the usually very loquacious Hardy is silent―his throat a gaping wound. Turns out he was first strangled, then his left earlobe slit, his diamond stud stolen. The media and the police come quickly to the same conclusion: Hardy’s murder was the work of a gang of Albanian drug smugglers. But for Hunkeler that seems too obvious. Hardy’s murder has much in common with the case of Barbara Amsler, a prostitute also found killed, with an ear slit and pearl stud missing. He follows his own intuition and the trail leads him deep into an edgy world of bars, bordellos and strip clubs, but also into the corrupt core of some of Basel’s political and industrial elite. More ominously, he will soon discover the consequences of certain events in recent Swiss history that those in power would prefer to keep far from the public eye.

Genres: Mystery, Crime, German Literature, Novels, International, Fiction

254 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2004

Reviews

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bitter Lemon 🍋 has become one if the premier publishers of foreign crime novels from Latin America and Europe. Hansjorg's " The Basel Killings" is expertly translated from German and set in Basel, Switzerland. It is an atmospheric crime novel rather than an action-packed one. The lead character is a bumbling, old codger who ought to most seem to think be put out to pasture. However, Honkeler is not quite ready for that. The old maestro still has a few tricks up his sleeve. It's a dark gloomy dismal foggy Basel where retired pensioners are strangled that is featured here. But as Honkeler determines these murders are tied into a complicated past. A rewarding read.

[Nessrina Hazem · Rating 4 out of 5]

تهز مدينة بازل السويسرية الهادئة مجموعة من جرائم القتل.. جريمة قتل عاهرة يليها جريمة قتل "هاردي" و هو مسن هادئ من سكان الحي. تضم مدينة بازل بجانب مواطنيها مجموعة من اللاجئين من البلقان و رجال مافيا أتراك بالاضافة لإنتشار الغجر أو المرتحلين في المدينة.

طرح الكاتب نظرة مواطنيين بازل للاجئين و للغجر و المرتحلين بشكل خاص و تعامل الدولة معهم و الإجراءات القاسية من مؤسسة إغاثة الأطفال و هي المسؤولة عن فصل اطفال الغجر عن ذويهم بل و إيداع الاباء و الامهات في مصحة علاجية إن طالبوا بحقهم في رؤية ابنائهم! يكبر الاطفال بين الاسر السويسرية بعيد عن الغجر و عاداتهم لكن هل يندمجوا مع المجتمع و تتساوي حقوقهم بالمواطنين؟ ماذا عن شعورهم تجاه القوانين و فكرة مؤسسة اغاثة الطفل، هل يشعرون بالامتنان لمنحهم فرصة النشأة مع الأسر السويسرية أم يغلبهم الحنين لأصلهم كمرتحلين؟

"- هل تعتقدين أن الرُحّل كان لديهم حنينًا للاستقرار و الاستيطان؟
- طالما أن المستوطن يحن إلي مغامرة الارتحال، فلا بد أن المرتحل لديه حنين إلي الحياة المستقرة الطبيعية "

أما عن محققنا فسلاحه حب البشر.. الجلوس في الحانات .. الاختلاط بجميع الطبقات و من جميع الأعمار.. شخص عِشَري. رغم عزله من وظيفته إلا انه اصر علي استكمال التحقيق بمفرده بمساعدة زملائه في الخفاء و تتبع النقاط المشتركة بين الجرائم و نبش ماضي الضحايا. لكن مع بطء العمل و إهمال الشرطة، استطاع القاتل مواصلة عمله و زرع الفوضي في محيط المدينة بالإضافة لوجود المخدرات و عمليات التهريب و هي مشتت قوي لفريق التحقيق في شرطة بازل.

انتقد الكاتب عنصرية المجتمع السويسري و أظهر أثرها علي المجرم و انحرافه السلوكي. بل و اقصاءها لمواطنيها من الفلاحين و عزلة سكان بازل و انغلاقهم علي ذاتهم.

"-لم أكن أعلم أن سويسرا لا تتقبل من فيها من الرُحّل
-كلا الأمر ليس كذلك، سويسرا لا تتقبل ذاتها، فهي لا تتحمل غربتها الداخلية."

شكرا لبيبو الجميلة علي الهدية الحلوة دي ❤️ و شكرا لدار العربي علي اختيارها لروايات الجريمة الشيقة و الترجمة الممتازة.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

“They tore our families apart in order to isolate us. They thought that that way we would adjust to normality. They wanted to save us from ourselves.”

Interesting second book in the Swiss Inspector Hunkeler series, The Basel Killings. It’s actually the first book translated to English but the fifth in the series, and sees Hunkeler descend into murders that uncover and dredge up a part of Swiss history that is probably a period people want to forget.

Who knew that from 1926 to 1973, the Swiss government apparently had a semi-official policy of institutionalising Yeniche parents and having their children adopted by more “normal” Swiss citizens. Sounds horrific and positively archaic and barbaric, although I’m reminded of way too many similar occurrences the world over…

In my ignorance I had no idea who or what the Yeniche people are, and again, I am confronted by the plight of the voiceless minorities. And while Thr Basel Killings is ultimately a crime novel it really does expose a practice that really does amount to what might more blatantly be called ethnic cleansing.

Hunkeler is an interesting character. I think I quite like him. He’s aloof, somewhat rude and belligerent without being overly obnoxious imo. He’s fairly self contained and somewhat politically incorrect however this is not his most obvious feature. When piecing together the links between a series of murders and attempted murder, he does find himself confronted with this piece of Swiss history that he certainly knew about but I don’t think had ever dwelt too deeply on or delved into. Its effects are felt keenly and clearly underpin the events as they unfold.

A fairly solid read, needed to keep turning back to remind myself who was who. 4 stars for bringing to bear something historical I had no idea about in the context of Euro crime.

[Melisende · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first dip into Swiss crime fiction - and definitely not my last.

As I was unfamiliar with the city of Basel, a town map would have been a great addition - but that's just me.

The Basel Killings is a great read, especially for those that like their protagonists flawed and plausible, slightly eccentric, and their surrounds as gloomy and depressive as the crimes being investigated.


read more here @ Melisende's Library>

[Mike Finn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I spent a lot of my working life from 1998 to 2018 in Basel. I haven't been there in three years now and I miss it. When I found that one of the best-known crime series about Basel had finally been translated into English, I was delighted to have the opportunity to make a virtual trip back to the city.

Basel is a city of strong, overlapping affiliations, from the Army, from University and from the Fastnacht Cliques that power the carnival, all of which exist in parallel to the world occupied by the large number of foreigners living and working in the city. I'd expected finally to get an insider's view of Basel as I tagged along with a senior police officer solving a crime. I recognised every place described, including the bars and clubs and it was a Basel I hadn't access to but not the one I'd been expecting. This was a tour through Basel's marginalised inhabitants, a category that included the main policeman Kommissär Peter Hunkeler.

Hunkeler is not a Basel insider, at least not in the establishment sense. He's original from Aarau, another Kanton and one that the ruling cliques in Basel-Stadt are likely to look down on as overly rustic. His home is not in Basel but over the border in Alsace, a place that has been alternately German and French but never Swiss. He's a senior officer in a job-for-life police force yet he has not built alliances or integrated himself into the hierarchy. He gets on better with the police in the more rural Basel-Lands than he does with his own superiors. He spends his leisure time in the grubbier parts of Basel, the parts that have seen wave after wave of immigrants from Turkey, Albania and the Balkans. These people are his community of choice and even there, he is an outsider.

Hunkeler was not a man I found it easy to like but he was a man I completely believe in. Being in his company and seeing Basel through his eyes was fascinating. He is not your standard-issue detective. Not even your standard-issue Swiss detective. He's a man in his sixties who is still a hedonist who is more comfortable in the demimonde than in the police station. He's very familiar with and accepting of Basel's sex industry. He drinks a lot and has a passion for food which is matched by his appetite for poetry and philosophy.

Hunkeler's personality isn't just a variant on local colour, used to give the book flavour, it's central to how the book works. He's not the kind of detective who draws timelines, maintains murder boards, follows close and rounds up and interrogates suspects. He is like a hunter in a hide, watching, waiting, learning the ways of his prey and becoming an accepted part of their landscape up until the moment that he strikes. He's also not a rule follower. Watching him use his unique investigation method, I'd just reached the point where I was thinking, 'In the UK, this man would be fired - hell, I'd fire him' when his boss suspends him and early retirement seems to be in his future. That development increased my belief in the story. It also told me that Hunkeler was on to something.

I won't go into the plot other than to say that Hunkeler is investigating the killing of one of his drinking companions. A man who Hunkeler, not entirely sober, discovers on a bench near their regular drinking place, with his throat cut and with his earlobe sliced open where a diamond stud should be.

It was fascinating to meet the people that Hunkeler knows and go to the places he frequents. The people and places felt very real. I also enjoyed the poems that crop up throughout the book, especially 'Shipped Oars' which I'd never seen before.

I was surprised to find that the plot pivots on one of the more shameful things in Switzerland's recent history. I won't say what because it gives too much of the plot away but it hits on an aspect of Swiss culture that's hard to see when you first arrive, the strong pressure on people to fit in and the consequences for those who can't or won't adapt to fit.

This pressure to conform is often beneficial. Switzerland is a small country with even smaller Cantons. Everybody knows everybody else, physical and social mobility is low by comparison to the UK. To get along with your neighbours you have to follow the rules. This enables the Swiss to find consensus amongst Kantons that speak different languages and practice different flavours of Christianity and gives a path for assimilating foreigners. It also produces a low tolerance for deviance from the norm that has occasionally resulted in very bad things happening. The best example I can think of was the process of Administrative Detention, used between 1942 and 1981 to lock away, without trial or appeal and for an indefinite period, unmarried pregnant minors, teenagers who were seen as difficult or workshy or just disruptive to the village they lived in so that they could be re-educated. The Swiss government has since apologised and offered reparation. The shameful act at the heart of this story is similar.

I hope that Bitterlemon Press translate more of this series soon. I'd like to see more of Hunkeler's Basel.

Hansjörg Schneider is a Swiss writer, dramatist and philosopher, based in Basel, who is best known for his award-winning ten-book Kommissär Peter Hunkeler crime books. The series started in 1998. Four of the books have been adapted to film/TV.

'The Basel Killings' (original title 'Hunkeler macht Sachen') won the 2005 Best Novel category in the prestigious Friedrich Glauser Prize for German crime fiction. It is the sixth book in the series and the first to be translated into English.

[Abibliofob · Rating 3 out of 5]

I find it interesting to read about policework in different countries and here you get three countries in one book. The Basel Killings (Hunkeler macht Sachen) is the fifth book in the series of inspector Hunkeler by Hansjörg Schneider. Soon to be released in English, why start translating the fifth? The book is set in Basel Switzerland where Peter hunkeler works as a police inspector and he also has an appartment. he also has a country place in France. It is so close to the border he can actually walk from the city center to his place in France, Basel also borders Germany, so there is a lot of people moving through three countries. It took me awhile to get into the story but then it moved along really well. Hunkeler is on his way home after a few beers thinking about the murder of a young woman he is trying to solve when he sits on a bench with Hardy a local character and takes a smoke while talking to Hardy he soon realizes that Hardy is dead! I must thank @this_is_edelweiss @bitterlemonpress and @consortiumbooks for giving me the opportunity to read this advance copy.

[Zeb Kantrowitz · Rating 2 out of 5]

A man who is known to be a drunk, is found murdered sitting on a park bench. He was found during the night by a police inspector (Hunkeler) walking home from an inn. His throat showed that he had been strangled, and his ear was slit and the diamond he wore there was missing. In old an old law, Travelers (Gypsies) when caught stealing, were subjected to having their ear slit as the sign of a thief.

Why would someone murder this mild mannered man who seldom spoke and enjoyed a drink and sitting near the fire and listening to the other patrons talking. I turns out that a woman had been previously been murdered and her ear had also been slit and the pearl she wore stolen. Why would someone kill two people for such small objects of no great worth.

This is the first book (first translated) by a well known Swiss author. The book is when compared to any of the well respected Scandinavian mystery/thriller writers. Maybe it's the translation (easy to blame the translator) but I found the book plodding and tedious. None of the characters including the inspector, were very well presented, nor was the narrative/background an enhancement to the story. I for one will not be reading any more of the series.

[Anna Baillie-Karas · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wasn’t sure what to make of this crime novel. It’s a police procedural but the inspector doesn’t follow any procedures & is a dissolute character. Things seem to happen randomly & for much of the book there don’t appear to be any suspects (so you can’t have fun guessing whodunnit). But I liked Inspector Hunkel’s quirky, honest relationship with his girlfriend, the sense of place in foggy Basel & his unpretentious honesty. Read it for the slice of life rather than the story-telling.

[Mailaenderli · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 is what I would give this. 4 stars for the topic, 3stars for the rest.

[Fadoua ϟ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Part of the #onemonthonebook challenge

It was interesting until it wasn’t anymore … the reveal at the end was just meh

[Adrielle]

This was fantastic! I read it in translation.

[Monica · Rating 3 out of 5]

https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-...
World weary but doggedly persistent, ready to ignore his bosses and the prevailing racist interpretations of current crimes, the persistent Hunkeler is an excellent anti-hero. I found him and his story more interesting the further into it I read. Plus it is a vivid portrait of aspects of Swiss life and history that are not widely known outside of Switzerland, I suspect.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Detective Inspector Peter Hunkeler with the Basel City criminal investigation department is on his way home from a bar—where he was going through his notes regarding a murder case— when he stumbles on the body of a man named Bernhard Schirmer on a bench in a public square. The man was strangled and his left earlobe was cut with a pair of scissors and his diamond ring stolen

The victim was a former truck driver with a disability pension; he was also an alcoholic who frequented the bars in the area. Hunkeler had met him often in the past in bars.

According to the detectives, the diamond was worth 20,000 francs. The detectives try to establish the motive of the crime. Could this have been a robbery or a murder?

Meanwhile, Hunkeler’s superiors are giving him hell for tainting the crime scene—he peed somewhere there and then threw up at the crime scene after seeing the victim’s body.

Hunkeler’s boss however hands the case to DS Madörin since Hunkeler was friends with the victim hence a possibility of bias. Besides, Hunkeler’s still working on the Barbara Amsler case, a cashier at a grocery who was found strangled with a noose of white raw silk in the Basel Rural Area. Her earlobe was also cut with a pair of scissors and the pearl that was there was taken.

Though the Basel Rural CID is in charge of the case, DI Hunkeler was called in to investigate seeing as there’s a chance the murder took place in the city.

Meanwhile, Hunkeler has been moody since his girlfriend went to Paris on a sabbatical and would be staying there for three months.

Then DI Hunkeler eventually gets suspended when he inadvertently lets an inmate he went to meet with escape.

Another victim is discovered floating in a pond by a jogger. She was almost strangled but luckily survived when the jogger who found her pulled her out from the water on time before calling for help. Her earlobe was also torn. A fast read and interesting police procedural.

[Eugene · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting. This library books said, “the first in the Inspector Hunkeler series,” but I find it’s actually the 5th of (so far) 10, but the 1st translated to English. I must say, it seemed to me that it’s because the writer’s intent is difficult to translate accurately; in that I congratulate translator Mike Mitchell. The ethos portrayed is visceral, if not warm and fuzzy. Where the plethora of Nordic mysteries so popular today focus on violence and evil, this depiction of Swiss mystery is dark but more concerned with the desperation in quotidian life. It’s to my mind far more realistic, if not particularly attractive. That said, it’s an intriguing read.
Hunkeler becomes involved in solving the murder of an acquaintance in the neighborhood. A street person, there’s more to his story, and as Hunkeler learns about it, the wider he must cast his net to find the killer. A child of the Romany, the gypsy diaspora settled in Switzerland anyway, there may or may not be any connection, but it’s not talked about as the Swiss treatment of these folk is a national shame…Hunkeler will not relent, and despite objection from above, pursues the case until the final sad truth is revealed.
A dark and chill tale that might not be for all, but a very interesting book; if further translations become available, I’ll certainly give them a look-see.

[Sophie Narey (Bookreview- aholic) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I do love reading a great thriller book and this certainly is one! The main character in this book is Inspector Peter Hunkeler, when he goes over to a bench to ask the guy he knows called Hardy for a cigarette, he knows something is up as the guy is silent.... then he notices it, the guy had been strangled , his left ear slit and his diamond stud stolen.... the conclusion they come to is that it is the work of Albanian drug smugglers... or is it??

We follow Inspector Hunkeler on his journey through all the evidence , the links , the thoughts , the its buts and maybes! This is the type of read that grips you , holds you and keeps you second guessing at everything you thought throughout the book.

It is expertly written, I absolutely loved reading the story, loved the setting in Basel (Switzerland) , the way the author influenced the readers mind and took the read on the journey. This is the first book in the series ... I can't wait to read book 2 and get to know Inspector Peter Hunkeler even more!

[William · Rating 1 out of 5]

The book did not make much sense. It kind of rambled on full of Swiss-German location names that the supposed detective went between for no good reason. Not much logical detecting but late nights of drinking and self reflection. A poor read and it wasn't the translation. Really dumb!

[Michelle Wilson · Rating 1 out of 5]

I tried but the plot thickened too much for me so I gave up. Not really one Star but the only way to let people know I DNF.

[Hedvig · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book, had the time of my life reading it! It's my favorite of the year so far, by a lot. And it's weird, because there's somethings in here that would drive me insane if it appeared in an other book and yet, it this one it worked. By the way, this was a Christmas present from my brother and his girlfriend - they know me well!

The Pros:

Hunkeler: I loved this man, okay? He seems like a real person, like I'm watching a world-weary and very hungry and thirsty older man solving crimes. He doesn't have a crazy private life; in fact, he spends most of his time drinking and missing his girlfriend (who he cheated on with a prostitute - and one other woman, if you count kissing as cheating - but I'll talk about that in the cons). A lot of characters in crime fiction have insane private lives and it's nice that Hunkeler is the opposite of that.
Almost all this man does is drive back and forth between Basel and Alsace, stop at various inns, restaurants and bars and eat and drink. And the reader's told everything Hunkeler eats, too! Either Hansjörg Schneider was hungry all the time when he wrote this book or he was possessed by the spirit of Enid Blyton.
In between all the eating and drinking, driving back and forth across the border and talking to the frankly amazing characters this book is chock full of, he's occasionally trying to solve the murders. And he's such a kind person. He's genuinely shocked and saddened by the anti-Traveller sentiments the whole case circles around, wondering why people can't let other people live theirs lives the way they want, as long as they're not hurting anyone. Which is an excellent question and sadly even more relevant today, twenty-one freaking years after the book was first published.
There's also a short exchange at the very beginning of the book between Skender, who owns the Billiards Center, and Hunkeler about how everyone thinks the worst of muslims nowadays and it isn't fair. Also, unfortunately, even more relevant today. Hunkeler shuts down xenophobia in an other place in the book too.
And lastly, he calls his friend Lüdi "my angel". I don't know if that's a weird translation or if male friends in Switzerland give each other cute nicknames, like how men in the Middle East call each other habibi. Or if it's just a personality quirk Hunkeler has. Either way, I love it.

The prose: What is the complete opposite of purple prose? Because this book is full of that. A lot of the sentences are short and the author spends a lot of time describing mundane things in the blandest way the possibly can. Like: "He went out to pick up the walnuts of the ground. There were a lot of them. He had to get two baskets."
That's not a direct quote, but it's pretty close. I'm sure this would annoy me to no end in another book, bur it really works here.

The plot: This book is fascinating. Things that would be a big deal, like a cliff-hanger chapter ending, in any other book is just something that... happens in this one. Hunkeler finds the body of his acquaintance in the square? The book just keeps going. He find another body, this time in the middle of the woods in a burnt-out car? The book just keeps going. There's some kind of gas attack in the Billiards Center while it's full of people, including Hunkeler? The book just keeps going. It made me do a lot of double-takes because it was so matter of fact, like: "Wait, what did I just read?" It made me feel like I was watching all this unfolding through the eyes of a bored and slightly detached policeman. It was wonderful!
I was suspicious of the killer, because his earlobe was scared and he said he used to have an earring. And the victims had their ears cut open and their earrings stolen, so I thought it could be a clue. And it was! But the motive for the killings was just heartbreaking; the way Garzoni suffered because of his heritage, the way it made him want to rid the world of other Travellers because he just couldn't deal with it. It made me feel terrible for him, even though he killed two people and tried to kill a fifteen-year-old girl. And then he was killed by his first victim's boyfriend/pimp who actually did love her and miss her and was suffering not that she was gone. I felt terrible for his victims, too, who'd done absolutely nothing to deserve their fate. A tragedy, all around.
And I liked that Schneider chose to highlight a horrible chapter of Swiss history in this book. Children of the Road really did take kids from their parents - and for a long time.

The Con:

Yes, there's only one and it ties in with the whole the book just keeps going thing I mentioned before. It was the scene where Hunkeler cheated on his girlfriend. It came out of nowhere, laster for a sentence and it didn't seem like Hunkeler ever felt bad about what he'd done. And Hedwig (his girlfriend) never finds out!
The whole thing just felt unnecessary.

[Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

If there is such a thing as Swiss noir , then this is it! Inspector Peter Hunkeler of the Basel police force lives his life among the misfits of the well-regulated Swiss society, including a motley crew of regulars at some of the less refined eateries and drinking establishments of Basel. When an acquaintance is found murdered and with his ear cut open, Hunkeler sees some similarities with the murder of a prostitute. He's not supposed to get involved in the investigation of the murder of the old man, and he soon manages to disgrace himself even more in a jailhouse altercation. So there is little for him to do to drift between his apartment in Basel, the various bars where he's a regular, and his house across the border, in Alsace.

The pervasive mood of the book is of damp, cold winter, of a losing battle against conformity and restrictive orderliness. Hunkeler is encouraged to take early retirement and feels like an outsider in a police force he barely recognizes. Gypsies and Albanian gangster make frequent appearances, and racist commentary has become a fact of daily life in Basel. Small farmers are being told to stop farming. Old folks are lost after their spouse dies.

So I would have to say that I liked that part of the book, the sense of immersion in a world that is very different of the ski-resort-and-cuckoo-clock-and-raclette perception of Switzerland. It was depressing at times, but then Hunkeler would spend a day or two in his house in Alsace, where he would find peace and tranquility, and that would give the reader some respite.

On the other hand, there's not much detection going on in the book, and I did begin to feel that lack at some point. Much of the story is driven by Hunkeler's uncanny ability to be on the spot when things happen -finding bodies, seeing suspicious characters drive away, observing gangsters and enforcers in their daily doings. Other characters seem unusually eager to open up to him and share information, albeit often in cryptic form. As Hunkeler spends most of the time in the book suspended from his duties, there is little police work going on. Just this drifting from one place to another, talking to this person and that person. So as a police procedural, which is what I had been expecting, it fell short.

[Kenneth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a story of Peter Hunkeler, inspector with the Basel City criminal investigation department (CID), around 60 years old. One night in late October, his friend, Bernhard "Hardy" Schirmer, is found outside on a bench, strangled, with a diamond he had worn in his left earlobe cut out. Hunkeler was already working on another murder case from the previous August, a woman named Barbara Amsler who had been working as a prostitute, had also been similarly murdered by strangulation, and a pearl cut out of her earlobe. There are a lot of foreigners living in Basel, in northwestern Switzerland, near the border with France, the French department of Alsace just across the border. Most of the foreigners are Albanians or others from the Balkans. Some of these Albanians are smuggling heroin into the area, while legally importing olive oil etc. from Greece and Turkey. Also, different clans of Albanians have deadly feuds among themselves, which the local police almost never solve. There are also Gypsies in the area, whom the Swiss in the past have tried hard to assimilate forcefully - once taking babies away from their mothers and putting them in institutions or adopting them out. That practice was ended in the early 1970s, though its effects linger. At one point, the killer attempts to murder a Gypsy girl. Hunkeler himself is not a native of Basel, coming from a different canton of Switzerland, and he tends to hang out in some of the bars and brothels of the city. He is divorced, but has a girlfriend named Hedwig, a kindergarten teacher who is on a sabbatical in Paris. So, this is the setting for this fascinating murder mystery. One gets a feel for the ambience of Basel in this book and for some parts of Swiss history that are less than edifying.

[Don Siegrist · Rating 1 out of 5]

By sheer coincidence I read two German/Swiss murder mysteries in a row, this one and Self's Deception by Bernhard Schlink. I found them to be very similar in structure and, unfortunately, both were also dull and pointless. The detectives spend a lot of time walking or driving places and both authors feel the need to point out the names of every town, street, even buildings they pass by. Why? On these walks the detective almost always finds a dead body, a clue or someone who just happens to have important info. Being a cop sure sounds easy.
The same goes for meals. These guys eat and drink all day long, seemingly as part of their investigations. And of course, every piece of food and bottle of wine is described in detail and usually determined to be of excellent quality. Boring.
The investigations themselves are wholly unbelievable. Everyone they meet has pertinent info and can't wait to divulge it to the detective. A case in point in The Basel Killings; the detective is looking for background info on a murder victim so travels to her hometown. He enters the first pub he sees and sits down with a group of men who conveniently know everything about the victim's life, her family genealogy and (because she has gypsy blood) the history of gypsies in that town. How convenient.
And worst of all this book has no chapters!

[Darius Ostrowski · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is definitely for people who like atmosphere, because this whole book is about dreary atmosphere, both figuratively and literally.

Peter Hunkeler is a Detective Inspector in the criminal investigation department of the city police in Basel, Switzerland, a town very close to both the French and German borders. Stumbling home one night after one too many with the locals in a dive bar, he runs across the corpse of a local alcoholic sitting on a bench, strangled and with his diamond earring stolen. Since Hunkeler knows the victim (and is part of the crime scene), the case is taken away from him, leaving him to continue to brood over the unsolved murder he was working on, that of Barbara Amsler who was also strangled but has no known connection to the current victim. Is this the work of a serial killer? Can Hunkeler figure it out before the killer strikes again?

Hunkeler is definitely in the "anti-hero" mold of police officer, world-weary, not following procedures, drinking too much, missing his girlfriend who's on a sabbatical in Paris. It's hard to call this a police procedural when Hunkeler doesn't really follow any procedures, but he knows the people and the motives of Basel which allows him to pursue leads which others don't see. A very moody mystery.

[Neil MacNeill · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's always interesting to read a thriller translated from another language. You realize that many of the standard ways of presenting dialog and adhering to the "show don't tell" mantra don't necessarily apply. Beyond my interest in "The Basel Killings" as a writer, I also enjoyed it as a reader. The main character, Inspector Peter Hunkeler was certainly flawed but ultimately compelling and, well, just someone you wanted to root for. He certainly came off as a curmudgeon, but he also had a very sharp eye for details (that others miss). You instantly understood what and with whom he felt comfortable, and what pissed him off. In short, I was drawn in and I will definitely look for another in this Inspector Hunkeler series. I did have a hard time dealing with foreign place names and foreign character names, notably those whose gender was not immediately apparent, but the whodunit progressed well and came to a satisfying conclusion.

[Paul Chlebowski · Rating 3 out of 5]

A prostitute is strangled and a pearl cut out of her earlobe; an old town vagabond is found strangled with a diamond cut out of his ear lobe. Peter Hunkeler, a police inspector disillusioned with his job and the city of Basel, is assigned the first case and was friends with the second victim. Combined with some other killings the authorities believe they are all the work of Albanian mobsters. Hunkeler doesn’t think so and the trail leads him to some sleazy places and characters. He also uncovers some unsavory events in Swiss history. The novel reads slowly at times as the author spends a bit too much time describing the surroundings of Hunkeler’s many walks and the various meals he enjoys. But somehow the author is able to keep the reader interested and presents a fulfilling conclusion.

[John Hardy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating 3.3. I didn't finish it. The author's new character, Inspector Hunkeler, is completely unlikeable. He's also not the sharpest knife in the drawer, allowing himself to be knocked out by a prisoner he is interviewing, who then disappears. He's not a green recruit, but he is an ageing has-been with attitudes from last century, and a serious health problem. Will he even last for another book?
I always look forward to reading a new crime series, but I won't be bothering to look for any more of this one. It's a pity, because I do have a penchant for European settings, in this case Switzerland.

[Sharon Rimmelzwaan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Basel Killings by Hansjörg Schneider is the first book in the Inspector Hunkeler series. Translated by Mike Mitchell and publisbed by one of my favourite publishers Bitter Lemon Press, I knew I was in for a treat with this book before I even began reading.
We are introduced to Inspector Peter Hunkeler as he approaches a bench where a man he knows, Hardy, is sat. He only wants to ask him for a cigarette. What he finds is that Hardy is dead, strangled with his left ear slit and a diamond stud stolen too. It seems to be the work of Albanian drug smugglers.. or so they conclude. Could they be wrong?
We are with Hunkeler as he begins his investigation, sifting through evidence and making the links from one thing to the next. A thriller that really had me there, with him the whole time as he dots his I's and crosses his T's. I was so immersed I was questioning my own deductions and found I was right to.
A great new series that has a setting in a country that I have never been to, Switzerland. So I have again done more travelling via the excellent world building in this story. It was so good I could visualise the settings throughout the book, this really helped the feeling of being with Hunkeler. Hansjörg Schneider throws the reader straight into the action from the beginning and keeps the same pace throughout. The sense of mystery behind the killings that Hunkeler was investigating helped to keep the pace up too.
I am glad it is a new series as I am looking forward to learning more about Detective Peter Hunkeler, he seems a very interesting man. Thanks to Anne Cater of Random Things Tours and Bitter Lemon Press for my place on the tour and the copy of the book.

[Mary-Ellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was fifth in the series, but the first translated into English.

The main character, a Detective Inspector, is interesting, as was the story itself, but it reads in large swathes like a two-bit dime-store novel. Since the author is a well known writer, I can only assume it’s the poor translation that reduces the book to a generic copy of superior mystery books.

In addition, the ending felt quite rushed and somehow unsatisfying.

I’ll read the next book that’s translated, primarily because the main character has a certain charm and appeal, and it was a quick read.

[DM Bellis · Rating 4 out of 5]

While gritty noir is not my usual fare, I appreciated the uniformity of tone and the sensory setting details that work together to create an immersive reading experience. You can almost feel the chill of fog on your skin, hear a quiet crowd of regulars in a local hangout, smell the smoke and beer. I especially liked methodical Inspector Hunkeler, but sketches of minor characters were also well done.

[Joy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really didn’t like this. It’s about an older policeman who is down about everything and is forced out of his job. He also has a girlfriend and he sleeps with prostitutes when the girlfriend is away. He solves this case which was dismal and did not pull me in. The ending is weird and not satisfying. I definitely won’t read further in this series.

[Bill Berger · Rating 3 out of 5]

A better than average police procedural based on a series of strangulations in Basel, Switzerland. The lead character has enough foibles to make the story interesting but the ending really is a letdown, with little tension.