Simone Buchholz
Autorenfoto zu Simone Buchholz

Simone Buchholz

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 her Chastity Riley series has won numerous awards. She lives in Hamburg.

Awards (selection)
Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger (UK) for Hotel Cartagena 2022
GLAUSER-Preis (shortlist) for River Clyde 2022
German Crime Fiction Prize for Mexikoring 2019
Stuttgarter Krimipreis for Beton Rouge 2018
German Crime Fiction Prize (2nd place) for Blaue Nacht 2017
Crime Cologne Award for Blaue Nacht 2016
Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger (UK) for Hotel Cartagena 2022
GLAUSER-Preis (shortlist) for River Clyde 2022
German Crime Fiction Prize for Mexikoring 2019
Stuttgarter Krimipreis for Beton Rouge 2018
German Crime Fiction Prize (2nd place) for Blaue Nacht 2017
Crime Cologne Award for Blaue Nacht 2016
Praise
»Razor-sharp dialogues, psychological studies thrown down in precise strokes, fast-paced scenes, and on top of that the merciless combination of irony and melancholia […] plus a certain amount of craziness – this is what the author knows how to do as skilfully as hardly anyone else.« Alexander Cammann, DIE ZEIT

»Simone Buchholz writes with real authority and a pungent, noir-ish sense of time and space […] a palpable hit«...
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»Razor-sharp dialogues, psychological studies thrown down in precise strokes, fast-paced scenes, and on top of that the merciless combination of irony and melancholia […] plus a certain amount of craziness – this is what the author knows how to do as skilfully as hardly anyone else.« Alexander Cammann, DIE ZEIT

»Simone Buchholz writes with real authority and a pungent, noir-ish sense of time and space […] a palpable hit« Independent

PUBLICATIONS

Swedish Bitters
Year of Publication: 2025
Simone BuchholzYear of Publication: 2025
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...
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)

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)

 


DISCOVER

News
Simone Buchhlolz is awarded this prestigous prize for Hotel Cartagena.
News
22.01.2019
We are proud to announce that this year’s winner of the German Crime Fiction Prize is Suhrkamp author Simone Buchholz with Mexicoring.