Merode trilogy
The Merode trilogues include the historical crime novels Teufelswerk , Mönchsgesang and Löwentod by the German writer Günter Krieger . The three books appeared for the first time in the years 1999 to 2001 and have since been reprinted several times in different editions.
Content
The historical panorama is the 14th century. Mathäus Dreyling, lord of the village of Merode , investigates various murders on behalf of the historically documented Margrave Wilhelm von Jülich . The village master is supported by his astute friend Heinrich, a vagabond and former mercenary .
Volume 1: the devil's work
In July 1349 a young woman was found murdered in a forest near Merode. The superstitious village population is convinced that the devil himself has a hand in it, but village master Mathäus can arrest a suspect soon after. Shortly afterwards, however, a second woman's body is found. Apparently there is another culprit. Its unmasking determines the progress of the novel.
Volume 2: monk chants
In autumn 1349, village master Mathäus Dreyling was called to the nearby Schwarzenbroich monastery to certify the natural death of a monk . But Mathäus finds clear evidence of murder. The search for the perpetrator, who has to live within the monastery walls, becomes a dangerous undertaking for the village master and his called friend Heinrich.
Volume 3: Lion Death
In the summer of 1350, gruesome murders took place in the imperial city of Aachen . Margrave Wilhelm is suspected of being a mastermind by the Aacheners. In order to relieve his master, village master Mathäus sets out for the city to find the real murderer. At the end of the novel, Mathäus' friend Heinrich is seriously injured. It remains to be seen whether he will survive the injury.
particularities
The author grew up in Merode and spent the first years of his life in the local castle , where his father worked as a castellan .
In Mönchsgesang there are small homages to the television series Derrick ("Get the horses, Didi") and the novel Der Name der Rose by Umberto Eco and its film adaptation by Bernd Eichinger (Heinrich combines the way to the latrine, although he has never been in the Monastery).
Two subsequent volumes of the Merode trilogy, Günter Krieger's crime thrillers Maria and the Inquisitor and The Executioner of Cologne , were published in 2003 and 2004 by Eupener Grenz-EchoVerlag . Mathäus Dreyling's foster daughter Maria plays the main role and clears up crimes in 1360.
expenditure
- Pandion Verlag, Simmern, Volume 1–3, 1999–2001 ( ISBN 3-922929-83-4 ; ISBN 3-934524-04-4 ; ISBN 3-934524-18-4 )
- Knaur Taschenbuch Verlag , Munich, Vol. 1–3, 2005–2007 ( ISBN 978-3-426-62847-8 ; ISBN 978-3-426-62848-5 ; ISBN 978-3-426-62846-1 )
- Dryas Verlag , Frankfurt, Volume 1–3, 2011–2013 ( ISBN 978-3-940855-31-2 ; ISBN 978-3-941408-42-5 ; ISBN 978-3-941408-43-2 )
Individual evidence
- Literature by Günter Krieger in the catalog of the German National Library
Web links
- Notes on the author's childhood at Merode Castle from Edition Fredebold
- General information about the author on Histo-Couch