This is a well written and twisty novel. It is part of a series but perfectly fine as a standalone. A good read.

“Dead calm” is the second installment in the “Kommissar Dühnfort” series and, while being a pretty decent European police procedural, I was expecting something more.

I love reading new crime series, specially if they’re set in in not your typical setting of UK or the US, but I, and this might be a pet peeve of mine, have to read them in order from the beginning of the series to really get to know the main character, his/her motivations, where he/she’s coming from... But with non English books that’s not always possible (I’ll never understand some publisher’s decisions of translating them out of order or translating just some of them). And that’s precisely what happened here. The fact that it’s book 2 in the series made it a bit hard to follow up Dühnfort’s personal and family matters, making it therefore harder for me to engage.

The mystery itself was not bad, although a times it was a bit convoluted (too many suspects, too many red-herrings). In some parts the pacing felt a bit clunky but that may have been more of a translation issue. Once the murderer was revealed the story still went on for another 10%, so I was hoping for another twist that never happened. You could consider the huge cliffhanger it ends up with like the final twist (although that would have worked much better with me if book 3 was translated into English 😒).

Police procedural that explores some dark family dynamics and, although it didn’t bring anything new to the crime lit world, made an entertaining enough read.

Thanks to NetGalley and Bonnier Zaffre, Manilla for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed reading this book. Although I figured out pretty early whodunit, it still was an interesting trip to the end. Barbara makes you want to scream with her naivety. She's looking for signs of infidelity, after she's caught husband in the act. I still look forward to other books by this author.

The first person you meet is Babs, who the story revolves around. Inge Lohnig introduces Albert who is her husband. In the prolog you meet him as a young boy. He has a brother, Bertram, who blackmails Albert. He also has a sister, Caroline, who's really on the outside looking in.

The story starts off by Heckeroth's murder. Duhnfort (the lead detective) makes the assumption that Bertram was the key murder, but this changes when he is also murdered. It resolves itself when Albert confronts Babs at the cabin where Heckeroth was killed.

This story has many characters that could have killed Heckeroth and Bertram and it leaves you knowing who the killer is and why they killed them. I liked her style of writing and I recommend my readers to read Dead Calm.

I enjoyed this book, it was a bit different with a plot that sometimes lost me as it got more and more convoluted but on the whole it was good. It held my interest until the end. I have to say that not all books on Netgallry do that!

It started really good immediately with Wolfram’s death and was followed by an investigation that is full of surprising twist and turn. I didn’t find it hard to guess who the culprit is, and mystery lovers will pick up on it easily, but it doesn’t take away my interest in the story. I still have to wonder what’s the reason behind it and everything in between is just as gripping. The secrets are surprising and scandalous and it is intriguing to know how the characters will react to those secrets and how it will play out on the people involved.

The plot may be pretty common but it will still hold your interest and will keep you reading until the end. Although, I’m not a fan of the ending. I am pretty sure mystery lovers will enjoy Dead Calm. I can honestly say that it is a good read.

I was excited to read Dead Calm not just because it sounded right up my street but because it would be my first crime novel set in Germany. I am a big fan or Nordic Noir and crime fiction so wondered how this would compare. In a nutshell – really well.

In many ways, it’s similar – it’s dark and gritty – though I have to say German life doesn’t seem quite as structured or controlled. There is much more eating, drinking and seeming to enjoy life here. Not too much though because there is murder afoot and a murderer to be found.

In this case the victim is a respected and semi-retired paediatrician Dr. Heckeroth, who is found rather gruesomely in his lakeside cabin by his son, Albert. Albert was the apple of his eye and chosen child – with the other two (Caroline and Berstram) being ignored for the most part. It’s an interesting and potentially explosive family dynamic which plays out as the investigation progresses and which I think Lohing uses to good effect to bring the story and the characters to life.

They also do a brilliant job with the detective’s, led by Dühnfort and supported by Gina and Alois. Dühnfort and Gina especially are really well drawn, with enough of their personal life to make me like and care for them. Much like my Monday read (Mercy Killing) this was very much a team effort. Dühnfort relies on his instinct a lot but doesn’t go off on his own, working with others to get results. I like this and it is a good change for me and my recent reads where detectives tend to go off on their own.

The story itself is full of twists and turns and I wasn’t sure till close to the end who did it (I was right – yay!). It isn’t the fastest of paced books though. Instead, I would say it was steady. I never lost interest and I never got bored but I didn’t feel the overwhelming urge I have with other books to stay up late or keep turning pages. This might not be a surprise as it runs to nearly 450 pages.

I thought it was well written and well translated. I liked getting to know each character, none of which I didn’t like to a degree (even the bad apples had redeeming features), and learning a little more about life in Munich, which sounds lovely despite the subject matter. I am not sure if this is part of a series or the first in one, but I’ll definitely be looking out for more. Liked it a lot!

Love Who Done it novels. This was so much fun reading this book! I yelled at it so many times

I would like to thank Netgalley and Bonnier Zaffre for an advance copy of Dead Calm, a police procedural set in and around Munich.

Inspector Konstantin "Tino" Dühnfort and his team, Gina and Alois, are called out to a suspicious death. Wolfram Heckeroth, a retired paediatrician, is found dead and strapped to a radiator in his country cabin. With little to go on the team are initially stumped but as the doctor's life is unpeeled several lines of enquiry open up.

The novel is told from three points of view, Tino, Caroline, Heckeroth's daughter and Babs, his daughter-in-law. I'm not normally a fan of this approach but I felt it worked very well here as it provides a wider perspective of the dysfunctionality of the Heckeroth family, their secrets and interactions, which is a bit of a nightmare but all too plausible.

The plot is relatively standard, police hunt murderer and all sorts of family secrets are revealed, not the chiller I was expecting and my enjoyment came from the gradual revelation of Wolfram Heckeroth's ghastly personality and his impact on his family, both now and previously.

The novel spends a fair amount of time on Tino's failing relationship with Agnes but as they have only been together for 4 months and we learn so little about her it seems a bit pointless and unrealistic. Padding. I also found the last few paragraphs extremely ambiguous and again fairly pointless when the case was wrapped up.

While I may quibble over some of the content I enjoyed Dead Calm and can recommend it as a good read.

When the body of a retired paediatrician is found dead in his holiday cabin, all first signs point towards a burglary gone wrong. But Detective Konstantin Dühnfort has his doubts. Wolfram Heckeroth suffered an agonising demise, slowly dying from thirst and heat exhaustion whilst bound to a radiator with his own belts, unable to free himself. The nature of the crime appears so unnecessarily cruel that it doesn’t sit right with Dühnfort. As he looks deeper into the man’s past and talks to his family, it soon becomes apparent that the role of respectful doctor has been a facade, hiding a dark side that may have made the good doctor many enemies. It seems that there have been many victims of his cruelty who would have a motive for murder – including his own children.

I love discovering new interesting crime series from around the world, and welcomed the opportunity to read Dead Calm, which is set in Germany. And even though it took me a little while to get into the story, since all the members of the Heckeroth family are just so unlikeable, this well constructed mystery slowly but gradually drew me in and kept me captivated. Detective Dühnfort is an engaging main protagonist who really intrigued me, and with a cliff-hanger ending I know that this will not be the last in the series for me. I was happy to see that there are already six books out in the Kommisar Dühnfort series (of which Dead Calm is the 2nd), which hints at a lot of reading pleasure yet to come!

Dead Calm is told from the different viewpoints of various protagonists, including some of the victim’s adult children and their spouses, as well as Detective Dühnfort himself. Not having read the previous book in the series, I loved discovering little snippets from Dühnfort’s own private life, which fleshed out this character into a sympathetic investigator who is longing for love and a family of his own. He would like nothing more than to settle down and marry his lover Agnes, but the woman’s traumatic past always gets in the way of happiness. Dühnfort balanced out the thoroughly unlikeable characters of the Heckeroth family, whose actions must be seen in the context of the whole story to be able to muster up some empathy. Exploring the dark side of family dynamics and love gone wrong, the story carries a sinister undertone that sets a somewhat disturbing scene, reminiscent of the stark honesty of Nordic noir. I loved the way the investigation slowly unfolded, from Dühnfort’s initial impression of the victim:

“An old man who had a good relationship with his children. One son came up for a barbecue, the other to fix a drain – a solid family. And now, abruptly, it was missing its anchor.”

To an altogether different picture, of a narcissist who took advantage of women, cheated on his wife and played his own children off against one another. Of his many victims, who finally took their revenge?

Set in Schwabing, Germany, Dead Calm is a well-constructed murder mystery based on complex family dynamics and carrying the sinister and somewhat disturbing undertones of hidden secrets and love gone wrong. Not afraid to expose the darkest corners of the human psyche, it is all the more disturbing in that it features everyday, ordinary people and respected pillars of society. Realistically drawn and somewhat dark and disturbing in its honesty, it should appeal to lovers of Nordic noir looking for a new crime series with a sympathetic investigator in a European setting.

Not very surprising as a whodunit, but with very well-developed characters. The action is important, but the characters' feelings and internal thoughts are prioritized, without being overly melodramatic. Detective Dühnfort is investigating the death of a retired pediatrician. It seems like a robbery gone wrong, but the few clues available to him make no sense. He figures out that the victim's family is full of dark secrets. We also get a glimpse of said family. They are privileged, but not necessarily happy. I believe that this is the second volume in this series, so it aludes to past events that are not completely elaborated upon. This doesn't matter, since the story can be understood on its own. The twists will not be too surprising for mystery readers, but it's the way the story unspools that makes this read interesting. Not so much what's happening but how the characters are reacting to it. I'm curious to see where Dühnfort goes next.

4 and 1 / 2 stars

Seventy-two year old victim retired pediatrician Wolfram Heckeroth is found tied up in the bathroom of his summer cabin. He was apparently left to die of thirst. Albert, the eldest of his children found him and called the police. Konstantin “Tino” Duhnfort is the inspector and his team responds to the call.

While Tino and his team are busy interviewing the children of Wolfram and those who knew the victim, the family is busy blaming one-another for the death. Daughter Caroline is certain that Bertram, the family bad boy, is guilty in spite of his alibi. Albert doesn’t know but is astounded to learn of his father’s secret photo album. Discovering family secrets serve to shatter the illusion of childhood happiness.

Tino and his team begin to interview the women in Wolfram’s photo album. And tragedy strikes again.
Totally stymied, Tino and his team begin to cross people off their list of suspects. They are soon left with…well, no one. Starting again, they track the cell phones of the key suspects. They soon discover discrepancies.

The family secrets come out in an explosive manner. The murderer comes as a surprise, but not so surprising as to be a complete shock.

This is a very well written, plotted and translated book. There were a couple of difficult transitions, but they weren’t too distracting. The book is both suspenseful and fast paced. I truly enjoyed it. This is my first Inge Lohnig novel, but it won’t be my last. I immediately went to Amazon to look up others of her books.

I want to thank Netgalley and Bonnier Zaffre/Manilla for forwarding to me a copy of this great book to read.

Dead Calm by Inge Lohnig is the second book a new-to-me series; I'm not certain how many have been translated, but I certainly want to pick up more, including the first in the series. (The German title of this book is In White Silence.)

An elderly man is found murdered at his lakeside cabin.
Chief Commissioner Konstantin Duhnfort and his team investigate the murder, and while robbery may have been the motive, tying an elderly man to a radiator and leaving him to die of thirst seems excessively cruel.

As events unfold, Duhnfort refuses to take things at face-value. Robbery or murder? And just how complicated are the threads he begins to unravel?

The developing investigation reveals a dark and manipulative side to the deceased pediatrician. His influence on his three children still dominates their lives: the favored son and heir, the neglected and rebellious son, and the ignored and invisible daughter. Only Albert, the favored son, has ever gained any affection or praise from the father, and all of three still deal with the consequences of the man's controlling personality.

A complex tale of family dynamics, Dead Calm examines the effects of the narcissistic father (with some, if not all, of the traits of a sociopath) on his children . Outwardly charming and concerned about superficial respectability, Dr. Heckenroth inner darkness casts a long shadow.

While the murderer is easily recognized early on, the intricacies of the plot kept me engaged throughout. I hope for more translations of this series soon.

NetGalley/Bonnier Zaffire

Psychological Suspense/Police Procedural. May 18, 2017. Print length: 448 pages.

It’s sad, but not unheard of. A burglar breaks into a house, unexpectedly encounters the home owner, panics and kills the victim. That seems to be the case in the death of a retired children’s doctor, whose body has been found at his vacation lake house. But Inspector Konstantin Duhnfort doesn’t buy it. The deeper he digs into the case, the more disturbing things he uncovers. It seems the good doctor had some very ugly family secrets, the question is, were they ugly enough to get him killed? An intricately plotted mystery with a surprise or two awaiting readers