Detective Selbs

Heidelberg has had its share of literary attention- disproportionate to its size, but then especially in such a context, size is nothing. So it is all that much more interesting that a mystery novel series could be based on a relaxed, university and touristy town like Heidelberg (and Mannheim).

Selb is a private detective and a former judge in Nazi-Germany. His friends and colleagues come from the same lineage. His supposed reason for turning to private detecting- the "old ones" from Nazi days continued their lives as if nothing happened, even took on the same j0bs. This part is somehow the most mysterious and often unexplained part of the charachter. The rest is adventuring and often (on the part of Herr Selb) some bumbling (Selb(st)verstaendlich = Self-evident).

Now after having read two of his books:

• Selbs Betrug
• Selbs Mord

I am beginning to see certain gaps in the charachter of the protagonist. Or maybe the WW2 veteran German, who has turned for the better was not a literary theme I am familiar with, or maybe I find such ambiguity almost uncomfortable.

I will post more reviews on this later.