The darkness in the mountains
The darkness in the mountains is a novel by the Swiss author Silvio Huonder . It was published by Nagel & Kimche in September 2012 . The events described are essentially based on historical facts.
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On July 12, 1821, the miller and two maids were found murdered in the remote Weihermühle near Bonaduz near Chur in the Swiss canton of Graubünden . With the help of the two hunters, Linus Hostetter and Karl Rauch, who have just returned from the service of the Royal Dutch Army, the interrogator Baron Johann Heinrich von Mont is investigating the case.
In a subplot, the reader quickly learns who the perpetrators are: the brothers Hansmartin and Hans Bonadurer , who live in Versam , and the wandering Tyrolean watchmaker and casual worker Franz Rimmel. Her plan is to stun the miller and maid and then rob them. The plan fails, the matter gets out of hand: the miller, the maid and a second former maid who happened to be present are killed with numerous ax blows and knife wounds. Thanks to tips from the population, the suspicion soon falls on Franz Rimmel.
The two country hunters manage to follow Rimmel on his escape through the Safiental and over the Safierberg and to capture him in Splügen . They take him to the prison in Chur, where he confesses. He mentions the Bonadur brothers, but takes the blame on himself.
Thanks to a tip from Bonadur's wife Anna, the judge, with the help of the hunters and some men, succeeds in arresting the refugees in the baron's birthplace, the Löwenberg Castle near Schluein , which has been vacant for twenty years , and also brings them to Chur. There Franz Rimmel hanged himself in his cell in view of the impending death penalty. As a deterrent, it was hung on the gallows above Chur, where it should "hang until it falls down by itself".
In the process, the Bonadur brothers were not executed for lack of evidence, but were whipped and sentenced to life imprisonment.
In the epilogue one learns that the younger brother apparently died in prison, the older one was pardoned in old age. Hansmartin Bonadurer died on May 4, 1852 in his home in Versam. What actually happened in the Weihersmühle on July 12th was never fully clarified.
Reviews
"Silvio Huonder is an absolutely stylish, viruosity, with whom every word fits."
“The reader is always one step ahead of investigators. But that doesn't lessen the tension in this novel, which is of great atmospheric density. The mountain world and its archaic inhabitants seem eerie, gloomy, and eerie. "
Book editions
- Hardcover: Nagel & Kimche, Munich, 224 pages, ISBN 978-3-312-00542-0