As always, many thanks to Orenda Books for including me on the blog tour for Simone Buchholz' "Sharks". I reviewed the second book in the "Chastity Reloaded" series, "The Kitchen" in 2024.
Click here to see a list of Buchholz' books in order.
Hamburg State Prosecutor Chastity Riley is back and grumpier than ever in "Sharks". In her storied career, she's seen it all and isn't impressed by any of it. What sets Riley apart is that even though her title says "Prosecutor", she is as much an investigator as any detective on the force. One of my favorite things about the book is the sardonic tone Buchholz uses for Riley, the detectives and the other characters. I love the dark setting and tone of the book anyway; the humor just makes it more fun to read.
"Sharks" also succeeds because of the relationships between Riley and her friends. Riley is so devoted to her job that it's interesting to see her more personal side. She's in a "friends with benefits" relationship with her neighbor Klatsche but it's not exclusive. Klatsche, an "ex-burglar king" and Rocco, the mate he met in jail, are opening a pub in the red-light district together. No one thinks this is a good idea, since it might send them back into the criminal world. Chastity's friend Carla is pregnant by Rocco and doesn't think he would make a good father. No matter, Chastity is very supportive of her friends and not judgmental.
The action takes place in Hamburg, Germany, just south of the city. Riley drily describes the area, supposedly an upcoming big market, as:
It's not surprising she has such a dark outlook because Riley is suffering from a truly impressive cough. Maybe it's due to her constant smoking or the Hamburg air. Either way, it doesn't improve her mood.
It's an ongoing riff in "Sharks" that everyone who encounters Riley is immediately horrified by her coughing. They tell her she looks like she's dying, drag her to the ER, and throw her cigarettes out the window. It doesn't matter: no one can tell Riley what to do. It's the same stubbornness that makes her such a great detective.
She's called to the scene of a double murder. Two bodies have been found in an apartment in a long-neglected building. Tenants Walt and Lorraine Tucker are Americans who stayed in Hamburg after the war ended. They've been savagely attacked, with bullets to the head and severely battered faces. This level of violence seems excessive for such an elderly couple. When Riley gets to the apartment, colleagues Calabretta, Schulle, and Kessler, the new head of forensics, are already looking around. Riley casts her jaded eye on the scene:
So, who would want to murder these two? There's evidence at the scene that points to an organization called Rote Flora, an "autonomist commune". For some reason, Walt Tucker hated the commune and had spent years tangling with them, "yammering about lefties and pinkos", and spitting on them. But Riley describes the commune as "the good guys". The team concludes that the clues are suspect and Rote Flora is being framed. Now they have to figure out who did the framing.
The cops aren't the only ones investigating the murder. Amy Tucker, Walt Tucker's niece, has hired Faller, a former detective who's now a private eye, to look into the case for her. Faller has infallible instincts and was one of the most respected cops on the force. He's still close with his former colleagues, so Chastity and Faller unofficially share information to find the real killer.
Back at HQ, most of the team has a suspicious reaction to new guy Bülent Inceman, just transferred from the drugs squad. Riley has a different reaction, which Calabretta immediately picks up on. Riley suggests a smoke break to avoid his snide remarks. Calabretta tells her that murder victim Lorraine Tucker was a member of the "Neocatechumenal Way", a fundamental religious group, so the two pay the group a visit.
The woman who greets them is grating, not answering questions, but repeatedly asking when they were last in church. This gets on Riley's nerves. All they learn from the other members is that Lorraine had turned to God to find out "why her husband had turned into such a demon". Interesting in light of his behavior toward the commune, but not very helpful to the case. It does help to clarify Riley's views on religion.
Meanwhile, new guy Inceman, seeing the dilapidated state of the Tucker's surroundings, begins reading online "anti-gentrification" forums. One name keeps cropping up: ToftingInvest, the Danish property buyer who happens to own the murdered couple's building. They operate throughout Europe, looking for decaying buildings with elderly tenants. Once they find one, ToftingInvest begins a campaign to force them out, cutting heat and electricity and smashing windows. Then, the company fixes the building up cheaply and sells it at a profit. It's contemptible, but would ToftingInvest have killed the Tuckers just to free up a new property?
With the entire squad on the job, plus Faller's infallible instincts, solving the case shouldn't be that hard. Nevertheless, there are powerful people, greedy and amoral, who have interests to protect. Bringing a murderer to justice is not one of them. It adds an additional layer of complexity: Can Riley and the others triumph over such secretive, formidable adversaries?
Buchholz sustains a deliciously caustic tone throughout "Sharks". Using the bones of a hard-boiled crime noir, she builds a story that is in turns hilarious, infuriating, and bitterly pessimistic. Chastity Riley won't find any easy answers, talkative witnesses, or tie the case up in a neat bow. She will take you on a wild ride through the seedy side of Hamburg: dive bars, cyclo-punks, abandoned buildings, and a shady opera lover with the splendid name of "Hieronymus Schlindwein".
I generally prefer to read serialized mysteries in order, but reading "The Kitchen" and "Shark" has prompted me to add the original Chastity Riley books to my "To Be Read" list. I know it will be worth it. I'd also like to call out Rachel Ward's excellent translation from the German.
Author Simone Buchholz was born in Hanau in 1972. In 2016, she was awarded the Crime Cologne Award as well as runner-up in the German Crime Fiction Prize for Blue Night, which was number one on the KrimiZEIT Best of Crime List for months. The critically acclaimed Beton Rouge, Mexico Street, Hotel Cartagena and River Clyde all followed in the Chastity Riley series. Mexico Street won the German Crime Fiction Prize in 2019 and Hotel Cartagena won the CWA Crime in Translation Dagger in 2022. The Acapulco (2023) marked the beginning of the Chastity Reloaded series and was followed by The Kitchen. Follow Simone on Bluesky as @ohneklippo.bsky.social.
Translator Rachel Ward is a freelance translator of literary and creative texts from German and French to English, specializing in crime fiction and books for children and young adults. Having studied modern languages at the University of East Anglia, she went on to complete UEA’s MA in Literary Translation. She translated Simone Buchholz’s Chastity Riley and Chastity Reloaded series for Orenda Books, and her translation of Hotel Cartagena won the 2022 CWA Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger award. Her non-fiction interests include history, politics, art, journalism and travel. Follow Rachel on Bluesky as @racheltranslates.bsky.social.
Please buy/order "Sharks" from your local independent bookstore, or go to bookshop.org and order there. They now offer ebooks as well.
For audiobooks, go to libro.fm.
