German Women Writers: Mystery and Suspense

General introduction to this series of blog posts HERE.

Crime fiction is arguably the most lively genre in the contemporary German literary scene; yet, only a fraction ever makes it to the translation into English (or, for that matter, French or any other languages). This is true for both male and female authors, and it’s at least partly due to the fact that “regional crime” is the name of the game in Germany at the moment; i.e., books set in one particular region and explicitly using its geography and culture as the books’ setting: regardless how well-written, apparently, this is not considered worth anybody’s but German readers’ interest. Add to that many German publishers’ reluctance to seek the international publication of anything but literary fiction, and it’s easy to see why not even most German mystery bestsellers ever make it to an audience outside their authors’ own country.

- Ingrid Noll (* 1935): The grande dame of contemporary German crime fiction; she only published her first book at age 55, after having helped out in her husband’s medical practice and raised her children. Many of her books feature female protagonists who rid themselves of bothersome husbands, boyfriends, or competitors by creatively despatching them to the hereafter before their time. Three of her twenty books have been translated into English (and a few more into other languages, including French and Spanish):
  - Hell Hath no Fury (Der Hahn ist tot): Noll’s first novel, in which a frustrated 52-year old woman, realizing she may be about to miss the boat when it comes to romance, takes to murder in order to safeguard her one chance at romance literally at all costs.
  - The Pharmacist (Die Apothekerin): The sequel to the above, written three years later (Head Count / Die Häupter meiner Lieben, below, came in between); here the protagonist of Noll’s first book becomes the eponymous pharmacist’s hospitalized confidante in the tale of constant woe and unhappy quadrangles that is her love life … and decides to take a hand.
  - Head Count (Die Häupter meiner Lieben): Noll does The Talented Mr. Ripley (of sorts), only the setting is Florence and the protagonists are two young women who manipulate and murder their way towards independence and personal happiness.

Doris Gercke (* 1933): Also an author who put marriage and children first, before finally acquiring the high school graduation degree that her parents had not been able to afford when she was young, studying law — and becoming a writer instead of a practicing lawyer. She is the creator of one of Germany’s most popular fictional detectives, Hamburg police inspector Bella Block, whose investigations in 1994 (seven years after the publication of the first Bella Block novel) were first made into a TV series that ended up running until 2018; albeit except for the very first episodes based on original screenplays, not on Gercke’s books, where Block eventually becomes a private investigator, whereas in the TV series she remained with the police. The only book of Gercke’s that seems to have been translated into English is her and Bella Block’s debut, How Many Miles to Babylon (Weinschröter, du musst hängen).
Nele Neuhaus (* 1967): She published her first two novels on a self-publishing platform; their success drew a publisher’s attention. Since then she’s made a name for herself as the author of a popular crime fiction series set in the Taunus mountain range near Frankfurt, named Bodenstein & Kirchhoff for its protagonists, as well as two middle grade / young adult series involving horses. Four of her Bodenstein & Kirchhoff books, as well as her independently-published first book, have been translated into English; her crime series has also been adapted for TV.
- Swimming with Sharks (Unter Haien): Neuhaus’s debut novel, about a rising Wall Street star trader who belatedly realizes that all is not well at her firm and a number of “accidental” deaths may be anything but.
- From the Bodenstein & Kirchhoff (B&K) series:
  - The Ice Queen (Tiefe Wunden): B&K #3; concerns the death of a 92 year old American Holocaust victim and the ugly ghost of Germany’s Nazi past.
  - Snow White Must Die (Schneewittchen muss sterben): B&K #4; links a traffic accident that may have been murder and the mysterious disappearance of girls from a Taunus village.
  - Bad Wolf (Böser Wolf): B&K #6; digs into the dirty secrets of a secret circle of people up to no good but hiding under the veneer of respectable, upper-echelon members of society.
  - I Am Your Judge (Die Lebenden und die Toten): B&K #7; where a serial killer investigation leads to a family drama involving organ donations.
Leonie Swann (* 1975): She probably doesn’t need an introduction, since the first book of her sheep series, Three Bags Full (Glennkill), was an instant bestseller. She seems to be making unusual detectives a bit of a specialty; besides sheep, she’s also written a book featuring a parrot as the detective, and her most recent venture is a tap into the “senior citizen investigators” bracket with the novel The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp (Mord in Sunset Hall) — which incidentally also features a dog named Brexit and a tortoise named Hettie.
Andrea Maria Schenkel (* 1962): A former employee of Germany’s national postal service, whose first novel — against the publisher’s expectations — was an almost instant runaway bestseller. Many of Schenkel’s books are based on real (often: historical) crimes and contain an investigation into the circumstances of those crimes and the towns and villages where they occurred. Four of her novels have been translated into English:
- The Murder Farm (Tannöd): Schenkel’s first book, based on the true story of the gruesome murder of an entire family on a farm in 1920s Bavaria (though Schenkel moves the story to the 1950s as part of its fictionalization).
- Ice Cold (Kalteis): Based on the real case of a 1930s Munich serial rapist and murderer.
- Bunker: The fictional story of a woman who is abducted and kept hostage by a man she may or may not have known in the past.
- The Dark Meadow (Finsterau): Another book based on a real crime case; the murder of a single mother in a Bavarian village shortly after WWII (Schenkel changed the location of the crime as part of its fictionalization).
Mechtild Borrmann (* 1960): An author who, before turning to fiction writing, had a varied career that included everything from work as a social services educator to theatrical producer and restaurant owner. Several of her books have been translated into French; two of them also into English:
- To Clear the Air (Wenn das Herz im Kopf schlägt):Bormann’s debut novel, where the investigating police inspector has to overcome a village’s wall of silence to get to the bottom of the murder of an elderly man; and
- Silence (Wer das Schweigen bricht): A group of friends is haunted by Nazi era and WWII secrets that cause a murder decades later, on the eve of the 21st century, when a dark secret is on the verge of being uncovered.
Petra Hammesfahr (* 1951): An author of psychological thrillers, frequently with women protagonists; two of her books have been translated into English:
- The Sinner (Die Sünderin): An investigation into the reasons and motives that have driven a young woman to commit the murder in plain sight with which the book opens; the novel was an international bestseller and was eventually turned into a U.S. TV series starring Bill Pullman which, in turn, was successful enough to run for several instead of just the one season originally planned.
- The Lie (Die Lüge): The story of two women who together concoct and embark on a ploy of deception that turns out more dangerous than it originally seems.
Brigitte Riebe (* 1953): An author of crime and historical fiction as well as romance novels; she publishes her crime fiction, which focuses on the investigations of a Munich attorney named Sina Teufel, under the pen name Lara Stern. (Note: this is NOT the same Lara Stern as the author who publishes erotic thrillers.) According to her Wikipedia bio, her books have been translated into a variety of languages … though English apparently is not one of them, and you also have to look for French and Spanish translations of her works with a fine tooth comb.
Sabine Klewe (* 1966): Similar story as with regard to Riebe (Stern), above — a prolific author with several crime series as well as several works of historical fiction to her credit (her crime fiction is partially written under the pen name Karen Sander), but while her fiction has been translated into several languages other than German, neither English nor, for the most part, French seem to be among them. (There’s just one novel in French, Viens mourir avec moi / Schwesterlein, komm stirb mit mir, the first book of a series focusing on a pair of investigators named Liz Montario and Georg Stadler, which she publishes under the Karen Sander pen name.)
Inge Löhnig (aka Ellen Sandberg, * 1967): Again, similar story as with regard to Brigitte Riebe (aka Lara Stern) and Sabine Klewe (aka Karen Sander), above. A prolific author with several crime series to her credit; some of them, published under the name Ellen Sandberg. The first two books of her series focusing on a police inspector named Konstantin Dühnfort have been translated into English:
- The Wages of Sin (Der Sünde Sold): Kidnapping, sadism, and religious fanaticism as the background of a family drama and a murder (trigger warning: cruelty to animals); and
- Dead Calm (In weißer Stille): Another family drama emerges from the depths of the investigation of an apparent robbery gone wrong and ending in murder.
Thea Dorn (* 1970): Again, a similar story as with regard to the above three writers: A prolific author of crime and general fiction, nonfiction, drama, and screenplays, as well as panel member and host of several literature-related TV shows (including, most recently, having been invited to host Germany’s arguably most influential literary talk show, Das literarische Quartett, the show hosted in its original incarnation by Germany’s “literature pope”, Marcel Reich-Ranicki) … yet, not one of her books seems to be available in either English or French.
Melanie Raabe (* 1981): The daughter of a German mother and a father from Benin, Raabe self-published her first stories, but quickly cornered recognition for her novel-length works, three of which to date have been published in English:
- The Trap (Die Falle): The story of a reclusive author who, after recognizing on TV the man she belives to be the murderer of her younger sister, sets out to trap him by the next book she writes. — The movie rights for the book have been optioned by a Hollywood studio.
- The Stranger, aka The Stranger Upstairs (Die Wahrheit): Raabe does The Return of Martin Guerre and Sommersby.
- The Shadow (Der Schatten): A young woman is trying to outrun the prediction that on a certain date she will murder a certain person.
Anja Jantschik (* 1969): A representative of the “regional crime” genre, with a mystery series set in Southwestern Germany, in the area east of Stuttgart. Since she has an English Wikipedia page I’m listing her here, as part of the main list … but as for English translations of her works — just nope.
Sabine Deitmer (1947-2020): Also a writer whose work, according to her Wikipedia bio, was translated into several languages, and who had several of her crime novels adapted for radio and TV … but even though she herself was a translator of English mysteries (including Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None), her own books never made it to English or, for that matter, French translation honors.

And just to convey an impression of how lively the literary scene really is in Germany, unbeknownst to anybody who doesn’t happen to speak the language, I’m going to list some of the other female representatives of the crime fiction genre, even though I know that, alas, you won’t be able to read their books if you don’t speak German — and I’ll also note that (1) I could as easily have created the same sort of additional list for historical fiction and general / literary fiction, too, and (2) you can well and truly double or triple the number of writers mentioned if you add in the male German writers whose works you’ll never be able to read, either, if you don’t happen to speak German:

Monika Rielau (* 1945): regional crime fiction set in Frankfurt; one of her novels was co-written with Angela Neumann (further below)
Gisa Pauly (* 1947): a screenwriter, inter alia for the internationally syndicated telenovela Sturm der Liebe (“Storm of Love”), voice actor, and author of juvenile fiction and regional crime fiction set on the North Sea island of Sylt
Ursula Meyer (* 1947): regional crime fiction set in Münster, Westphalia
Gisela Garnschröder (* 1949), aka Gisela Stiens and Gisela Maria Stiens: romance novels and regional crime fiction set in Münster, Westphalia
Martha Bull (* 1949): historical fiction, children’s and YA literature, cozy crime fiction, and regional crime fiction set in Bremen
Angelika Griese (* 1949): regional crime fiction set in Bremen
Jutta Mehler (* 1949): general and popular fiction, as well as regional crime fiction set in Bavaria
Anita Wächtler (* 1950): regional crime fiction set in the Saxon town of Freiberg
Malin Blunk (* 1950s): regional crime fiction set in Kiel, the state capital of Schleswig-Holstein
Martina Kempff (* 1950): historical fiction (cf. also my post on German women writers of historical fiction) and regional crime fiction set in the Eifel mountain range south of Bonn
Eva Markert (* 1951): general fiction, children’s and YA fiction, and regional crime fiction set in the Rhine Valley
Gabriella Wollenhaupt (* 1952): journalism and regional crime fiction set in the Ruhr Valley, in a fictional city modelled on Dortmund
Gesine Schulz (* 1952): juvenile and general crime fiction, and regional crime fiction set in the Ruhr Valley city of Essen
Gabi Bierhaus (* 1952): regional crime fiction set in Düsseldorf
Sibyl Quinke (* 1952): regional crime fiction set in Wuppertal
Nina Ohlandt (1952-2020): regional crime fiction set in and around Flensburg and the North Sea coast
Marion Scheer (* 1952): nonfiction, fantasy, and regional crime fiction set in Oldenburg (Lower Saxony) and on the Eastern Frisian coast
Christiane Baumann (* 1952): regional crime fiction set in Schwerin, the capital of the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
Angela Neumann (* 1953): regional crime fiction set in Frankfurt; one of her novels was co-written with Monika Rielau (further above)
Gabriele Korn-Steimetz (* 1953), aka Gabriele Keiser and Lea Wolf (joint pseudonym with Wolfgang Polifka): regional crime fiction set in and around Koblenz and in the Frankfurt area
Susanne Rüster (* 1954): regional crime fiction set in Berlin and Potsdam
Angelika Waitschies (* 1954), aka Angelika Svensson and Svea Jensen: regional crime fiction set on the North Sea coast
Angela Pajec (* 1954): regional crime fiction set in Münster, Westphalia
Franziska Franke (* 1955): “Sherlock Holmes in exile” pastiches and Roman era historical mysteries set in Worms, Cologne and Mainz
Claudia Rimkus (* 1956): a photographer and author of regional crime fiction set in Hanover
Clara-Martha Mai (* 1956): regional crime fiction set in Dresden
Marion Petznick (* 1956): regional crime fiction set in Rostock and on the Baltic coast
Birgit Lohmeyer (real name Birgit Hölscher, * 1958): general crime and suspense fiction and regional crime fiction set in Hamburg
Susanne Kronenberg (* 1958): fiction and nonfiction on historical and regional subjects, children’s and YA books, and regional crime fiction set in Wiesbaden
Christine Lehmann (* 1958): a Stuttgart city council member for the Green Party and author of radio dramas, screenplays, nonfiction, and regional crime fiction set in Stuttgart and other locations in southwestern Germany
Ruth Edelmann-Amrhein (* 1958): regional crime fiction set in Stuttgart
Birgit Storm (* 1958): regional crime fiction set in Thuringia
Jacqueline Gillespie (* 1958): Scottish fairy tales, general fiction, nonfiction and regional crime fiction set in Vienna and in the mountainous region east of Dresden
Sabine Alt, aka Eva Ehley (* 1959): suspense fiction, thrillers, and regional crime fiction set on the North Sea island of Sylt
Karin Büchel (* 1959): popular fiction and regional crime fiction set in Bonn
Astrid Fritz (* 1959): historical fiction and historical mysteries set in Freiburg
Manuela Kuck, aka Katharina Peters (* 1960): women’s lit and regional crime fiction with series set, inter alia, in Wolfsburg and various Baltic locations (Rügen, Wismar, and Bornholm)
Susanne Mischke, aka Antonia Riepp (* 1960): screenplays, radio plays, juvenile fiction, suspense fiction, and regional crime fiction set in Hanover. Several of her books have been adapted as TV movies.
Sylvie Braesi (* 1960): historical crime fiction set in 1911 Manhattan, cozy crime fiction, and regional crime fiction set in Magdeburg
Ellys Meller (* 1960): regional crime fiction set in Quedlinburg and the Harz mountains
Monika Küble (* 1960): historical fiction and regional crime fiction set in the Upper Swabia region in southern Germany, between Augsburg and Lake Constance
Brenda Stumpf (* 1960), aka Lotte Minck, Stella Conrad, and Frau Keller (as part of a duo named Auerbach & Keller with Fenna Williams, further below): romance novels, chicklit, nonfiction, cozy crime fiction, and regional crime fiction set on the North Sea Coast, in the Ruhr Valley, and in Berlin
Christiane Dieckerhoff (* 1960), aka Anne Breckenridge and Nelly Fehrenbach: historical fiction, romance novels, chicklit, and regional crime fiction set in the Spree Forest area in south-eastern Brandenburg
Birgid Windisch (* 1960): regional crime fiction set in the Odenwald mountains of south-eastern Hesse
Gabriele and Jürgen Jost (* 1960 and *1961), aka Danica Brückner: a husband-and-wife team publishing general fiction and regional crime fiction set in the Taunus mountain range north of Frankfurt
Andrea Revers (* 1961): regional crime fiction set in the Eifel range south of Bonn
Gitta Edelmann (* 1961) aka Felicitas Kind (joint pen name with Regine Kölpin, further below): historical fiction, alternative history, romance novels, fantasy, general crime fiction and regional crime fiction set in Scotland and on the Eastern Frisian coast
Heike Schroll (* 1961): scholarly nonfiction, dictionaries, and regional crime fiction set in northern Saxony Anhalt
Astrid Seehaus (* 1961): children’s and YA literature, YA fantasy, thrillers, and regional crime fiction set in Thuringia
Ute Wehrle (* 1961): regional crime fiction set in Freiburg
Nicola Förg (* 1962): travel literature, general fiction, and regional crime fiction set in varions Bavarian locations
Dietlind Kreber (* 1962): general crime fiction and regional crime fiction set on the Baltic coast
Franziska Steinhauer (* 1962): general and historical crime fiction; regional crime fiction set in Cottbus (south-eastern Brandenburg) and in Sweden
Andrea Ross, aka Marie Kastner (* 1962): general fiction, chicklit, thrillers and general crime fiction, horror, science fiction, and regional crime fiction set in Werningerode and the Harz mountains
Kerstin Rech (* 1962): Theatre, radio drama, nonfiction, and regional crime fiction set in the Saarland region south of Germany’s border with Luxemburg
Gina Greifenstein (* 1962): general fiction, romance novels, cookbooks, and regional crime fiction set in the Palatinate
Angelika Angermeier (* 1962): regional crime fiction set in Mainz and the area between Mainz and Frankfurt
Heike Rommel (* 1962): regional crime fiction set in and around Bielefeld, Westphalia
Susanne Reiche (* 1962): regional crime fiction set in Franconia
Moa Graven (* 1962): regional crime fiction set in Eastern Frisia
Manuela Sanne, aka Viola Sanden (* 1962): children’s / YA / new adult fiction, nonfiction, romance novels, and crime fiction set on the North Sea coast
Uta-Marie Heim (* 1963): general fiction, poetry, radio dramas, essays, and regional crime fiction set in various locations in southwestern Germany
Roswitha Wildgans (* 1963): a trained classical singer and author of regional crime fiction set in the Munich area
Katrin McClean (* 1963): literary fiction and regional crime fiction set in Hamburg
Nika Michaelis (* 1963): regional crime fiction set in Hamburg
Christiane Franke (* 1963): regional crime fiction set in Wilhelmshaven (Lower Saxony) and Eastern Frisia
Sonja Kindler (* 1963): regional crime fiction set in the Black Forest
Claudia Puhlfürst, aka Eva Fürst (* 1963): a former editor who now writes thrillers, juvenile crime fiction, and regional crime fiction set in and near the Saxon town of Zwickau
Christina Auerswald (* 1963): general historical fiction and historical fiction set in and near Halle, Saxony-Anhalt
Petra A. Bauer (* 1964): juvenile fiction, nonfiction, and regional crime fiction set in Berlin
Elke Schwab (* 1964): regional crime fiction set in the Saarland and adjoining areas in southwestern Germany
Rita Falk (* 1964): regional crime fiction set in Bavaria
Hilde(gunde) Artmeier (* 1964): thrillers and regional crime fiction set in Regensburg
Irene Dorfner (* 1964): humorous fiction, thrillers, and regional crime fiction set in Upper Bavaria
Susanne Ptak (* 1964): regional crime fiction set in Eastern Frisia
Alida Leimbach (* 1964): regional crime fiction set in Osnabrück (Lower Saxony) and Eastern Frisia
Regine Kölpin (* 1964), aka Franka Michels and Felicitas Kind (joint pen name with Gitta Edelmann, further above): children’s and YA fiction, general fiction, and regional crime fiction set on the Eastern Frisian coast and elsewhere on the North Sea coast
Eva Almstädt (* 1965): regional crime fiction set on the North Sea and Baltic coasts
Corinna Kastner (* 1965): fantasy, time travel, thrillers, and regional crime fiction set on the Batic coast
Diana Salow (* 1965): regional crime fiction set in Schwerin, the capital of the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
Sylke Hörhold (* 1965): regional crime fiction set in the area east of Dresden, between Dresden and the borders of Brandenburg and Poland
Heidrun Grüttner (* 1965): chicklit and regional crime fiction set in Brandenburg
Nané Lénard (* 1965): regional crime fiction set in the Weser Uplands region in Lower Saxony
Michaela Küpper (* 1965): fiction set in the Rhine Valley post-WWII, children’s and YA literature, travel books, and regional crime fiction set in and near the Rhine Valley
Heike Köhler-Oswald (* 1966): regional crime fiction set in various locations in Thuringia (including Weimar and Jena)
Christiane Fux (* 1966): regional crime fiction set in Hamburg
Beatrix Kietzmann, aka Eva Lirot (* 1966): general fiction, dystopias, children’s and YA literature, thrillers, and regional crime fiction set on the Baltic island of Fehmarn
Stefanie Schreiber (* 1966): regional crime fiction set on the North Sea coast
Isabel Bernsmann (* 1967): regional crime fiction set in Hamburg
Friederieke Schmöe (* 1967): literary scholarship, juvenile crime and fantasy fiction, and general and regional crime fiction set in Bamberg and Munich
Elke Bergsma (* 1968): romance novels, juvenile fiction, and regional crime fiction set in Eastern Frisia
Sabine Weiß (* 1968): historical fiction and regional crime fiction set on the North Sea island of Sylt and elsewhere on the North Sea coast
Britta Bendixen (* 1968): regional crime fiction set in and around Flensburg and on on the North Sea coast
Mona Frick (* 1968): romance novels, fairy tales, and regional crime fiction set in Stuttgart
Ilona Bulazel (* 1968): psychological thrillers, science fiction, and regional crime fiction set in Mannheim
Mirjam Müntefering (* 1969), aka Mirjam Munter: the daughter of former SPD (Social Democratic Party) chairman and former minister Franz Müntefering; a journalist, gay rights activist, and author of juvenile fantasy novels and regional crime fiction set in the Ruhr Valley
Sabine Schulze Gronover (* 1969), aka Sabine Gronover and Frida Gronover: nonfiction and regional crime fiction set in and near Münster, Westphalia
Katja Lukic (* 1969): autobiographical fiction, children’s and YA fiction, and regional crime fiction set in Warnemünde on the Baltic coast
Livia Pipes (* 1969): science fiction, thrillers, and regional crime fiction set in Stuttgart and in the Netherlands
Sybille Baecker (* 1970): regional crime fiction set in Karsruhe
Anette Hinrichs (* 1970): regional crime fiction set in and around Flensburg and on the North Sea coast
Kathrin Heinrichs (* 1970): regional crime fiction set in the mountainous Sauerland region between Cologne and Westphalia
Henrike Jütting (* 1970): regional crime fiction set in Münster, Westphalia
Evelyn Kühne (* 1970): romance novels and regional crime fiction set on the Baltic coast
Sandra Lüpkes (* 1971): a screenwriter, inter alia for the long-running TV crime series Wilsberg (named for its PI protagonist), and author of plays, general fiction, nonfiction, historical fiction, romance novels, and regional crime fiction set on the Eastern Frisian islands
Susanne Schieble (* 1971): a literary scholar, artist and author of regional crime fiction set in Hanover
J.M. Port (* 1972): regional crime fiction set in Trier and the Mosel valley
Marion Demme-Zech (* 1972): travel books and regional crime fiction set in the Saarland region south of Germany’s border with Luxemburg
Mia C. Brunner (* 1972): regional crime fiction set in the Allgäu region in southern Bavaria
Claudia Sagmeister (* 1972): regional crime fiction set in Lower Bavaria
Andrea Klier (prior to 1973 – 2017): general crime fiction, juvenile fiction, and regional crime fiction set in Eastern Frisia
Stefanie Rogge (* 1973): regional crime fiction set on the North Sea island of Föhr
Nicole Braun (* 1973): regional crime fiction set in and around Kassel in northern Hesse
Kathrin Ulbrich (* 1973): horror, romance, and thriller dime novels, as well as regional crime fiction set in Saxony and Thuringia
Romy Fölck (* 1974): regional crime fiction set in the Elbe Marshes outside of Hamburg
Silvia Stolzenburg (* 1974): see also my post on German women writers of historical fiction: general historical fiction, historical mysteries and contemporary thrillers set primarily in Ulm, Nürnberg and Esslingen (historical fiction also set in Venice and in Scotland)
Eva Adam (* 1975): regional crime fiction set in Bavaria
Julia Bruns (* 1975), aka Clara Bernardi: regional crime fiction set in Thuringia, on the Baltic island of Rügen, and in Northern Italy (Lake Como)
Sina Kongehl-Breddin (* 1975): children’s books and regional crime fiction set in northern Saxony Anhalt
Ulrike Schellhove (* 1975): regional crime fiction set in the Eifel range south of Bonn
Tanja Heinze (* 1975): regional crime fiction set in Wuppertal
Maria W. Peter (* 1976): historical fiction and historical mysteries set in Trier
Jessica Müller (* 1976): regional crime fiction set in the Munich area
Anett Steiner (* 1976): regional crime fiction set in the Saxon city of Chemnitz
Isabell Valentin (* 1978): regional crime fiction set in the Saarland
Katharina Schendel (* 1979): cozy crime fiction and regional crime fiction set in Thuringia
Sonja Silberhorn (* 1979): regional crime fiction set in Regensburg
Kerstin Pflieger (* 1980), aka Julia Corbin: urban fantasy and paranormal fiction, and regional crime fiction set in Mannheim
Andrea Reinhardt (* 1981): thrillers, horror, and regional crime fiction set in and near Koblenz
Britta Habekost (* 1982), aka Britta Hasler and Nora Schwarz: fiction and nonfiction books involving sado-masochism, historical thrillers, and regional crime fiction set in the Palatinate and in Mannheim
Melisa Schwermer (* 1983): regional crime fiction set in Frankfurt
Romina Angeli (* 1984): cozy crime fiction and regional crime fiction set in the Allgäu region in southern Bavaria
Marlen & Sven Rohde (both *1987), together aka Svarlen Edhor: regional crime fiction set on the North Sea coast
Eva Murges, aka Eva Link (* 1988): fantasy, children’s and YA fiction, tarot books, and regional crime fiction set in the Allgäu region in southern Bavaria
Saskia Louis (* 1993): romance novels, fantasy, and regional crime fiction set in Cologne
Birgit Rückert: the Administrative Director of Salem Monastery and Palace on Lake Constance; author of scholarly nonfiction works on archeology and historical fiction set in Salem
Andrea Illgen: regional crime fiction set in the Harz mountains
Heide Sommer: regional crime fiction set in the Harz mountains (note: this is not that other Heide Sommer)
Victoria Krebs: regional crime fiction set in Dresden and in Oldenburg
Thea Lehmann: regional crime fiction set in Dresden and in the Saxon Switzerland region southeast of Dresden
Annette Krupka: regional crime fiction set in the Saxon town of Plauen
Rosi Masuch: chicklit and regional crime fiction set in Jena and other locations in Thuringia
Ute Mügge-Lauterbach, aka Fenna Williams and Frau Auerbach (as part of the Auerbach & Keller duo with Brenda Stumpf, further above): chicklit, cozy crime fiction, and regional crime fiction set in Berlin
Caroline Parker: regional crime fiction set in Berlin
Bettina Kerwien: regional crime fiction set in Berlin
B.C. Schiller: the pen name of husband-and-wife team Barbara and Christian Schiller, who publish thrillers and regional crime fiction set on the island of Mallorca (Baleares), in Berlin and Vienna, and on the Baltic island of Rügen
Doreen Unkel: regional crime fiction set in Schwerin, the capital of the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
Jule Jacob: regional crime fiction set in Warnemünde and on the Baltic coast
Cathrin Moeller: general crime fiction and regional crime fiction set on the Baltic island of Rügen
Heike Meckelmann: regional crime fiction set on the Baltic island of Fehmarn
Mara Tamen: regional crime fiction set on the North Sea island of Sylt
Ella & Tom Hansen: regional crime fiction set on the North Sea island of Föhr
Greta Henning: regional crime fiction set on the North Sea coast
Anne Amrum: regional crime fiction set on the North Sea coast
Elsa Dix: regional crime fiction set on the Eastern Frisian islands
Sina Jorritsma, aka Julia Brunjes: regional crime fiction set on the Eastern Frisian coast
Heidi Lubitz: local crime fiction set in Wilhelmshaven and on the Eastern Frisian coast
Dörte Jensen (image), Lena Karmann, and Ella Lorenz regional crime fiction set on the Eastern Frisian coast (note: they’re not a team, but I didn’t find front-facing author photos for any of them, so I’m lumping them together under the image that Jensen uses as her FB profile photo, since their books fall into the same genre and are set in the same part of Germany)
Angela Lautenschläger: regional crime fiction set in Hamburg
Klara Thoma: regional crime fiction set in Lower Bavaria
Denise Yoko Berndt: thrillers set in the music business and in London, and regional thrillers / crime fiction set in Tübingen and Munich
Andrea Pfrommer: regional crime fiction set in the northern Black Forest
Hanni Faller: regional crime fiction set in the Black Forest
Jana Fallert: regional crime fiction set in the Black Forest
Inge Zinßer: regional crime fiction set in the Swabian Jura mountains east of Stuttgart
Kirsten Nähle: general fiction and regional crime fiction set in Würzburg
Uta Seeburg: crime fiction set in late 19th century Munich and Bavaria
Elisa Lark: local crime fiction set in rural Bavaria
Franziska Franz: children’s adventure stories, thrillers and regional crime fiction set in Frankfurt
Cornelia Härtl, aka Carla Wolf: romance novels, comedy, cozy mysteries, and regional crime fiction set in the Frankfurt vicinity
Karin Joachim: regional crime fiction set in Cologne and other places in the Rhine Valley as well as in the Ahr valley south of Bonn
Leenders / Bay / Leenders: a trio of authors that, from 1993 to 2013, used to publish regional crime fiction set in the Lower Rhine Valley town of Kleve. — The married couple Hiltrud (* 1955) and Artur Leenders (* 1954) died in 2018 and 2020, respectively; Hiltrud Leenders was the main author, while her husband and their co-author Michael Bay, now a Green Party Kleve town council member, mainly contributed their knowledge as trained doctors and psychologists. The books’ plot lines and characters were developed based on equal contributions from all three members of the trio.