The first in a gripping new crime series set in Germany - the Black Forest Investigations Louise Boni, maverick chief inspector with the Black Forest crime squad, is struggling with her demons. Divorced at forty-two, she is haunted by the shadows of the past. Dreading yet another a dreary winter weekend alone, she receives a call from the departmental chief which signals the strangest assignment of her career - to trail a Japanese monk wandering through the snowy wasteland to the east of Freiburg, dressed only in sandals and a cowl. She sets off reluctantly, and by the time she catches up with him, she discovers that he is injured, and fearfully fleeing some unknown evil. When her own team comes under fire, the investigation takes on a terrifying dimension, uncovering a hideous ring of child traffickers. The repercussions of their crimes will change the course of her own life. Oliver Bottini is a fresh and exciting voice in the world of crime fiction in translation; the Rhine borderlands of the Black Forest are a perfect setting for his beautifully crafted mysteries. Translated from the German by Jamie Bulloch.

The second of the Black Forest Investigations - "Its plot bristles with invention" Guardian It has been a long dry summer in the Black Forest idyll of Kirchzarten. When the local fire brigade is called to a burning farm shed, a volunteer is killed as a weapons cache beneath it explodes. The small community is shocked to the core. Louise Bonì, back with Freiburg Kripo after a period of withdrawal, is assigned to the task force dealing with the case. The meagre evidence they gather points to a possible connection with German neo-Nazis or illegal arms dealers from the former Yugoslavia, but the appearance of secret service agents marking out the forest suggests more is at stake. Acting as her partner in the case is Thomas Ilic, whose allegiances are as conflicted as Bonì's. Who is in fact working for whom? In the most challenging case of her career - and one that puts her in mortal danger - Bonì must to overcome the ghosts of her past that continue to haunt her. Oliver Bottini is a fresh and exciting voice in the world of crime fiction; the Rhine borderlands of the Black Forest are a perfect setting for his beautifully crafted mysteries. Praise for ZEN AND THE ART OF MURDER - now shortlisted for the CWA INTERNATIONAL DAGGER: "Surprising and genuinely shocking" Joan Smith, Sunday Times "Gripping" Sebastian Shakespeare, Tatler "An atmospheric, original story that will keep you hooked to the final heart-rending revelations" Crime Review Translated from the German by Jamie Bulloch

The third in the Black Forest Investigations series - by CWA shortlisted author One wet and misty weekend in October, the Niemann family find a stranger in their garden. He is armed and tries to force his way into the house, but disappears as soon as the police are alerted. That night he's back with an impossible ultimatum . . . Freiburg detective Louise Boni and her colleagues are put under enormous pressure. Traces of evidence lead her to a no-man's-land, and to a ruthless criminal who brings with him the trauma of conflict in the Balkans. Translated from the German by Jamie Bulloch

The fourth in the Black Forest Investigations featuring Louise Bonì, by the four-time winner of the German Crime Fiction Award At first nothing seems to link fifteen-year-old Eddie, a bit of a loner who finds solace swimming in the dangerous waters of the Rhine, and Nadine, a rich but bored student from Freiburg. Except for the fact that both disappear without trace, within days of each other. When Eddie's body is found, suspicion first falls upon his brutal and uncooperative father. But when Nadine's own father raises the alarm, Detective Chief Inspector Louise Bonì of the Freiburg police instinctively feels that the cases are connected. An abandoned barn near the river soon becomes the focus of the investigation, beginning a trail that will lead Bonì and her team across the Rhine to Colmar, confronting them with the grim secrets of outwardly respectable citizens. Sometimes it takes very little to unleash the monster in man.

Der fünfte Fall für Louise Bonì Berlin: Ein Mann wird zusammengeschlagen, der Täter entkommt unerkannt. Kripo-Hauptkommissarin Louise Bonì ermittelt, denn eine Spur führt nach Freiburg. Ein beunruhigender Fall: Der Täter scheint ein Profi zu sein, das Opfer ein Geheimdienstspitzel, die einzige Zeugin weiß mehr, als sie sagt, und im Hintergrund agiert der Verfassungsschutz, verweigert aber die Kooperation. Ein ums andere Mal wird Louise Bonì ausgebremst – doch wann hätte sie sich davon je beeindrucken lassen? Sie spürt, dass sich das Netz immer enger zusammenzieht. Doch bis sie die Wahrheit entdeckt, ist es für einen der Beteiligten bereits zu spät …