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 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...