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« Alex Beer, the new exciting star in the Austrian crime story sky. » Kronen Zeitung

DER ZWEITE REITER/DIE ROTE FRAU/DER DUNKLE BOTE
by Alex beer
Blanvalet

© Ian Ehm

Alex Beer, born in Bregenz, studied archaeology and lives in Vienna. The Second Rider, her first book featuring police agent August Emmerich, was awarded the Leo Perutz Prize and received enthusiastic reviews. After The Red Woman, which was also highly acclaimed, Beer has now published her third crime story featuring investigator August Emmerich. She was also nominated for the Viktor Crime Award initiated by Sebastian Fitzek.

DER ZWEITE REITER

Crime novel, 384 pages, Limes, March 2017
Vienna, shortly after the end of WW I: In the sinister atmosphere of this formerly splendid city, with hunger and destitution reigning, police agent August Emmerich discovers the body of a man who allegedly committed suicide. But August has his doubts, and starts investigating on his own account.

• 13,000 copies sold
• Rights sold to: Italy (Edizioni E/O), US/World Engl. (Europa Editions)
• Sinister and melancholic like Graham Greene’s The Third Man
• Winner of the Leo-Perutz-Prize 2017
“Beer fans out society, skilfully making time into something vivid and putting life into the characters … A historical gap has been filled – and excellently so.” Die Welt

DIE ROTE FRAU

Vienna 1920: While the city is struggling with the aftermath of the war, August Emmerich is at last transferred to the Health and Life department. Yet while his colleagues there are busy with the spectacular murder case of the popular city councillor Richard Fürst, Emmerich and his assistant Ferdinand Winter have to play nanny to the famous actress Rita Haidrich, who is in fear for her life. While on the job, however, they not only discover a dubious connection with Fürst but also get on the tracks of a perfidious murder conspiracy reaching up to the highest circles, and Rita is to be the next victim … « Alex Beer has once again done her research precisely and then seamlessly merged fiction and facts. » FAZ « A crime novel in the best sense of the word: suspenseful, intricate, inscrutable. […] A story that will absolutely overwhelm you. » 5plus Magazin « Beer shines again with her research […] August Emmerich’s new case is even better than his first. » ORF FM4

DER DUNKLE BOTE

« This is what crime literature is about. » ORF

Vienna, November 1920: An unexpected cold spell has destroyed the crops, one man in three is out of a job, and organised crime is booming. But the murder case that has shaken the city surpasses anything ever seen before: a body has been viciously mutilated and is found covered in a layer of ice. Shortly afterwards, a letter claiming responsibility appears.
Detective inspector August Emmerich and his assistant, Ferdinand Winter, investigate – and that is not the only mystery they have to solve, for they still have not tracked down Xaver Koch, the man who has abducted Emmerich’s life partner and has turned out to be a dangerous opponent…

A haunting world of secrets and obsessions

GHOSTS OF THE MISSING
by Kathleen Donohoe
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt February 2020

In the vein of The Lovely Bones and The Little Friend, Ghosts of the Missing follows the mysterious disappearance of a twelve-year-old girl during a town parade and the reverberations of this tragedy throughout the town.
On Saturday, October 28, 1995, a girl vanished. She was not a child particularly prized in town…When questioned by reporters, those who’d known Rowan described her as ‘quiet’ and ‘loner’ and ‘shy’ and even ‘awkward.’ Words for pity.
Culleton, New York has a long history—of writers, of artists, and of unsolved mysteries. It’s where Adair grew up before she moved to Brooklyn to try to make it as an artist. But after years away from her hometown and little to show for it, Adair decides to return. She moves back in to Moye House, the old mansion, and current writer’s retreat, imbued with her family’s legacy. Ciaran is a writer staying at Moye House in the hopes of finally solving the mystery of what happened to Rowan Kinnane—his sister, and Adair’s childhood best friend. As the two begin investigating, secrets long buried rise to the surface, complicating their sense of themselves and their understanding of what happened on that fateful day.
With her “knack for capturing heartbreaking moments with a gripping simplicity” (Village Voice), Kathleen Donohoe lures us into and shows just how far people will go in order to find the truth.

Kathleen Donohoe’s stories and essays have appeared in The Recorder, New York Stories, and Washington Square Review. She serves on the Board of Irish American Writers & Artists. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and son.