From Ferdinand von Schirach, one of Germany's most prominent defense
attorneys, comes a jolting debut collection of short stories that
daringly brings to light the motivations stirring within the criminal
mind. By turns witty and sorrowful, unflinchingly brutal and
heartbreaking, the deeply affecting, quietly unnerving cases presented
in Crime urge a closer examination of guilt and innocence.
In "Fähner," a small-town physician and avid gardener betrays little
emotion when he takes an ax to his wife's head, an act that shocks the
locals but provides a
long-awaited reprieve for the good doctor. Abbas, a Palestinian refugee
who is cornered into a life of crime, finds true love and seemingly a
saving grace with a beautiful student named Stefanie in "Summertime."
But when she is viciously murdered in a hotel room after having been
paid to sleep with one of the country's wealthiest men, is Abbas to
blame or is it the man who seems to have it all? And in the startling
story "Love," a young man's infatuation with his girlfriend takes a
grisly turn as he comes to grips with his unconventional--and
uncontrollable--impulses to truly know a woman.
"Guilt," writes von Schirach, "always presents a bit of a problem." In
this beautifully nuanced and telling collection, guilt is indeed never
as clear-cut as the crime, and justice is more nebulous still.
