Ice Vipers

Crime Novel
Chastity Riley # 4
Suhrkamp | Insel

Ice Vipers / Eisnattern
Crime Novel
Chastity Riley # 4
A deep dive into the underbelly of Hamburg
It’s the end of the year. The world seems to be standing still, waiting for Christmas. Even the usually bustling streets of Hamburg’s St. Pauli have been transformed by twinkling lights and golden angels. But despite all the cozy glittering and glowing, someone seems to have it in for the homeless people in the neighbourhood. And if there's one thing prosecutor Chastity Riley has absolutely no time for, it's when the weakest members of society takes advantage of the weak and the...
Read more
It’s the end of the year. The world seems to be standing still, waiting for Christmas. Even the usually bustling streets of Hamburg’s St. Pauli have been transformed by twinkling lights and golden angels. But despite all the cozy glittering and glowing, someone seems to have it in for the homeless people in the neighbourhood. And if there's one thing prosecutor Chastity Riley has absolutely no time for, it's when the weakest members of society takes advantage of the weak and the marginalised.

Chastity Riley has been sentenced to a stint of forced vacation. She wanders aimlessly through St. Pauli to pass the time, but time refuses to pass. Even Christmas refuses to simply pass her by, instead imposing itself with full force at every turn. As Chastity seeks refuge in dark corners, she stumbles across a homeless man who has been brutally beaten. And then she finds another. She can’t get the cases out of her head, and vacation or no vacation, she begins to investigate. The clues lead – quite literally – to the Hamburg underground and to all forms of human neglect. And just when Chastity thinks things can't get any worse, her long-lost mother suddenly shows up at her door...
2026, 220 pages
Service
Cover (Web)Cover (Print)

Persons

Simone Buchholz was born in Hanau in 1972. She studied philosophy and literature and trained to be a journalist. She started writing in 2008 and her Chastity Riley series has won numerous awards. She lives in Hamburg.

Simone Buchholz was born in Hanau in 1972. She studied philosophy and literature and trained to be a journalist. She started writing in 2008 and...


OTHER PUBLICATIONS

This Side of Heaven
Year of Publication: 2024
Simone BuchholzYear of Publication: 2024
After their plane nearly goes down as they prepare to land, eight people eventually make it to their destination on a Mediterranean island. An idyllic paradise with gorgeous bays, boatloads of sun, picturesque architecture, and bars and cafés on every corner. It should be the perfect holiday, but something seems off. The scenery looks washed out, and the locals are strangely absent, as if they...
Only the Others are Immortal
Year of Publication: 2022
Simone BuchholzYear of Publication: 2022

Tarik and two other men disappear without a trace on the MS Rjúkandi, a ferry on the North Atlantic. Two women, Iva and Tarik’s partner Marlin, set out to find their missing friends – and board the ship to Iceland firmly convinced that they will soon be home again. But in the first days onboard, they begin to notice strange things and a weird atmosphere: The crew is...

River Clyde
Year of Publication: 2021
Simone BuchholzYear of Publication: 2021

State prosecutor Chastity Riley runs off to Glasgow. Because, for one, there is that letter, written by a lawyer, that lures her to the birthplace of her great-great-grandfather. And secondly, her...

Rights sold to:

English world rights (Orenda), France (L’Atalante), Denmark (Dreamlitt), Finland (Huippu)

Hotel Cartagena
Year of Publication: 2019
Simone BuchholzYear of Publication: 2019

A chilly hotel bar in the Port of Hamburg. Down on the docks, the lights are shimmering, above the tables are rather sparsely occupied. Suddenly the doors open, twelve heavily armed men...

Rights sold to:

English world rights (Orenda), France (L’Atalante), Denmark (Dreamlitt), Finland (Huippu)

Mexico Street
Year of Publication: 2018
Simone BuchholzYear of Publication: 2018

In Hamburg cars are burning. Set alight at random every night. But one night on the Mexico Ring, a ghetto of office high-rises to the north of the city, a person is still in his Fiat as it starts...

Rights sold to:

English world rights (Orenda), France (L'Atalante), Denmark (Dreamlitt), Finland (Huippu)

Beton Rouge
Year of Publication: 2017
Simone BuchholzYear of Publication: 2017

Chastity Riley is chasing a madman. Or at least that’s what it seems like. Because who else would lock high-ranking executives in a cage in the middle of Hamburg? And so Chastity...

Rights sold to:

English world rights (Orenda), France (L'Atalante), Italy (Emons), Denmark (Dreamlitt), Finland (Huippu)

Domestic Rights Sales: German Audiobook (Hörbuch Hamburg)

Blue Night
Year of Publication: 2016
Simone BuchholzYear of Publication: 2016

»Just for the record: This is an extremely strange night. And strange nights are always a harbinger.«

Due to an unfortunate incident where she convicted a...

Rights sold to:

English world rights (Orenda), France (L'Atalante), Italy (Emons), Denmark (Dreamlitt), Finnland (Huippu), Turkey (Altın Kitaplar)

Domestic Rights Sales: German Audiobook (Hörbuch Hamburg)

Swedish Bitters
Year of Publication: 2011
Simone BuchholzYear of Publication: 2011
Wilhelmsburg in Hamburg – a »problem area«. An American couple is found dead. They had been the last tenants of an old villa. Prosecutor Chastity Riley and her team take on the case and quickly run up against some brick walls. Dodgy real estate investors, the city planning office – one big impenetrable swamp. And then there’s the cough Chastity’s been trying to shake for weeks. But there’s...
The Kitchen
Year of Publication: 2010
Simone BuchholzYear of Publication: 2010

Summer in Hamburg, it’s far too hot, but Sankt Pauli is glowing – when suddenly, a few extra feet are found floating in the Elbe. Men’s feet, to be precise, and there’s not...

Rights sold to:

English world rights (Orenda)

The Acapulco
Year of Publication: 2008
Simone BuchholzYear of Publication: 2008
Hamburg, a foggy March, dead strippers lie next to the the Elbe. Who is responsible for the young women’s deaths? Why were they scalped? What's with the wigs? State prosecutor Chastity...
Rights sold to:

English world rights (Orenda), Finland (Huippu)