Beton Rouge

Hamburg State Prosecutor Chastity Riley and her new sidekick Ivo investigate the case of newspaper executives who have been caged and tortured outside their offices on a trail that leads them to the hothouse world of boarding schools and some harrowing secrets
 
You loved Dark  now meet Chastity Riley
 
Caustic, incisive prose. A street-smart, gutsy heroine. A timely and staggeringly stylish thriller Will Carver
 
With plenty of dry humour and a good old dash of despair, Simone Buchholz is an unconventional, refreshing new voice Crime Fiction Lover
 
Lyrical and pithy Sunday Times 
 
***WINNER of the CWA Crime in Translation Dagger 2022***
***WINNER of the German Crime Book of the Year Award***
 
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On a warm September morning, an unconscious man is found in a cage at the entrance to the offices of one of Germanys biggest magazines. Hes soon identified as a manager of the company, and hes been tortured. Three days later, another manager appears in a similar way.
 
Chastity Riley and her new colleague Ivo Stepanovic are tasked with uncovering the truth behind the attacks, an investigation that goes far beyond the revenge they first suspect to the dubious past shared by both victims. Travelling to the south of Germany, they step into the hothouse world of boarding schools, where secrets are currency, and monsters are bred monsters who will stop at nothing to protect themselves.
 
A smart, dark, probing thriller, full of all the hard-boiled poetry and acerbic wit of the very best noir, Beton Rouge is both a classic whodunit and a scintillating expose of society, by one of the most exciting names in crime fiction.
 
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Stripped back in style and deadpan in voice, this is a scintillating romp Doug Johnstone, Big Issue
 
With brief, pacy chapters and fizzling dialogue, this almost feels like American procedural noir and not a translation Maxim Jakubowski, CrimeTime
 
There is a fantastic pace to the story which keeps you hooked from the first sentence all the way to the end. Once again Simone Buchholz holds no punches, with a unique voice that delivers a stylish story New Books Magazine
 
The follow-up to Blue Night is a smart and witty book that shines a probing spotlight on society CultureFly
 
Fans of Brookmyre could do worse than checking out Simone Buchholz, a star of the German crime lit scene who has been deftly translated into English by Rachel Ward Goethe Institute
 
Beton Rouge is a killer read, original, unusual and yet I felt that a part of it, in fact a part of Chastity, lodged itself deeply within my soul, its quite simply fabulous LoveReading
 
Great sparkling energy, humour and stylistic verve Rosie Goldsmith
 
Praise for the Chastity Riley series
 
'Combines nail-biting tension with off-beat humor ... Elmore Leonard fans will be enthralled' Publishers Weekly
'Buchholz doles out delicious black humor ... interwoven in a manner that ramps up the intrigue and tension' Foreword Reviews
Fans of Brookmyre could do worse than checking out Simone Buchholz, a star of the German crime lit scene who has been deftly translated into English by Rachel Ward Goethe Institute
By turns lyrical and pithy, this adventure set in the melting pot of contemporary Hamburg has a plot and a sensibility that both owe something to mind-altering substances. Lots of fun Sunday Times See more