Beton Rouge

By Simone Buchholz, Translated by Rachel Ward

Chastity Riley

FICTION

276 Pages, 5 x 7.75

Formats: EPUB, Mobipocket, Trade Paper

Trade Paper, $15.95 (US $15.95) (CA $20.95)

Publication Date: September 2019

ISBN 9781912374595

Rights: US & CA

Orenda Books (Sep 2019)

eBook Editions Available

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Price:	$15.95

Overview

**Following on from Blue Night comes the second in the Chastity Riley series of modern German noir**

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 Germany’s biggest magazines. He’s soon identified as a manager of the company, and he’s 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, it’s 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

Reviews

"Beton Rouge is a fast-paced German thriller set in Hamburg and featuring Chastity Riley of the public prosecutor’s office. She has her cabal of friends with her, but whether that is a good thing or a bad thing is a moot point (adds to the fun though). This is an intriguing revengers tale that explores the nature of blame, guilt and mitigation – what drives a person to crime. Borrowing from the American hardboiled school, the writing is taut, the dialogue sassy and there is an edge of toughness and cynicism to the story. However, what Buchholz borrows she makes her own, the result is a distinctive noir and Chastity is a truly original character. As much as this is a crime story, it’s also Chastity Riley’s personal journey through life, she is the principal fascination of the novel … Buchholz also does a nice line in wry, black humour in her novels and there are some very funny moments in Beton Rouge set against a backdrop of greyness and pessimism … Beton Rouge is a touch of class, a superb noir." —New Books Magazine

"This book is to crime thriller what jazz music is to classical. With plenty of dry humour and a good old dash of despair, Simone Buchholz is an unconventional, refreshing new voice, the likes of which I haven’t heard in German crime fiction since Arjouni." —Crime Fiction Lover

"As ever drinking too much coffee and alcohol, smoking like a trooper and profoundly dry-witted and full of heavy sarcasm, Chastity is a heroine with a difference and here works along new colleague Ivo Stepanovic when two naked, tortured men are found displayed, in quick succession, in front of a magazine’s offices and turn out to have been unpopular managers there. Alongside this mystery, they are also confronted by a hit and run on a cyclist. Is there a connection? But the solution is far from obvious and soon the two cops are investigating the common past of the two humiliated victims and journey south to Bavaria in search of answers, while continuously sparring with sharp, witty dialogue and regularly treading the dark side of their home town which comes over almost as a main character in the best tradition of hardboiled writing with an acute sense of locale. With brief, pacy chapters and fizzling dialogue, this almost feels like American procedural noir and not a translation." —Maxim Jakubowski, Crime Time

"Blue Night has great sparkling energy, humour and stylistic verve . . . and the story itself is gripping and pacey. Simone Buchholz’s homage to Raymond Chandler and Johnny Cash is affectionate and deliberate.Then there’s the interplay of author and translator, like musicians in the same band . . . creating an all-female tour de force." —Rosie Goldsmith, European Literature Network

"This book has been translated, rather excellently, by Rachel Ward, and nothing has been lost in translation. There is a great energy in Buchholz writing and that is reflected in the main character Chastity Riley. While this may be classed as a novella it certainly punches above its weight, with short snappy sentences and chapters, there are no wasted words, no trying to pad the story out. There is also an underlying humour, even if the hero does come across as somewhat unconventional … 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. Buchholz proves that you can pack an excellent crime thriller into 186 pages and engross the reader who wants more, once completed." —NB Magazine

"Chastity Riley, the central character in Simone Buchholz’s sharp and unrelenting crime noir series, is a one of a kind character. . . . The follow-up to Blue Night is a smart and witty book that shines a probing spotlight on society." —Culture Fly

Author Biography

Simone Buchholz is the author of Blue Night, for which she won the Crime Cologne Award, and was runner-up for the German Crime Fiction Prize. The next in the Chastity Riley series, Beton Rouge, won the Radio Bremen Crime Fiction Award and Best Economic Crime Novel 2017.

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