The Forger

SHORTLISTED FOR THE CWA INTERNATIONAL DAGGER AWARD 2019
Hamburg, 1948

In a routine operation, Chief Inspector Frank Stave is shot down. He survives, but transfers from the murder commission to the office combatting the black market. There, Stave is confronted with an enigmatic case: Trummerfrau, women helping to clear rubble from Hamburg’s bombed streets, discover works of art from the Weimar period – right next to a unidentified corpse.

Shortly afterwards, mysterious banknotes whose existence disturbs the Allies’ secret plans begin to pop up on the black market. The Supervisor soon discovers strange parallels between the two cases. With the introduction of a new currency, Stave thinks he is on the brink of a solution. But the truth is dangerous, and not just for him.

Praise for the Frank Stave Investigations

‘Undoubtedly the most powerful work of crime fiction I have read this year‘ Independent

‘Vivid and harrowing‘ Sunday Times

‘Police procedural, romance, thriller The Murderer in Ruins has a bit of everything and it’s one hell of a read.’ Bücher


Reader Reviews for The Forger

‘An excellent series based in Hamburg just after World War II. Interesting characters and story lines – a view from defeated Germany we wouldn’t normally hear’ *****

‘Characters were good, plot good and it really highlights post war Germany and the inequalities among both sides. The only really disappointing thing is there is not a fourth one to read’ *****

‘I could not put it down. Brilliant’ *****

Translated from the German by Peter Millar