Michael Kobr

Michael Kobr Leipzig Book Fair 2013

Michael Kobr (right) and Volker Klüpfel 2013

Michael Kobr (* 1973 in Kempten (Allgäu) ) is a German crime writer .

Life

Together with Volker Klüpfel , the secondary school teacher for German and French, who grew up in the Allgäu in Kempten and Durach , wrote the first book the crime novel Milchgeld , with which the duo made it into the nationwide bestseller lists and which has since been sold over 200,000 times. The main character of the book is the quirky Commissioner Kluftinger . The second thriller with Commissioner Kluftinger, Erntedank , occupied fifth place on the Focus bestseller list for weeks. The duo's third crime thriller, Seegrund , appeared in September 2006 and immediately made it onto the bestseller lists, where it stayed for over ten months. This made Klüpfel and Kobr the German authors with the longest stay in the 2006/2007 bestseller lists (highest ranking in Spiegel, 5th place, in Focus 2nd place). In total, her books reached a circulation of nearly one million copies. In March 2008, the fourth Kluftinger crime thriller with the title amateur play appeared . The fifth Kluftinger crime thriller called Rauhnacht was published on September 11, 2009. It took first place in the Spiegel bestseller lists. The sixth volume in the series, Patron Saint , was published in 2011. The seventh Kluftinger crime thriller is entitled Herzblut and was published in February 2013 with an initial circulation of 250,000 pieces. This was the first volume in the series to be published by Droemer-Knaur-Verlag, where the two authors followed their editor from Piper Verlag. The next book in the series is called Grimmbart and was published in 2014.

Michael Kobr works and lives today in Memmingen in Upper Swabia . He is now a full-time author and no longer a teacher.

Theater and film adaptations of the novels

Erntedank was produced as a television film by Bayerischer Rundfunk in autumn 2008 and first broadcast on Bavarian television on September 26, 2009. A large part of the film was shot in Memmingen . An old Lechwerke administration building on Schweizerberg was used as a police station. The television film Milchgeld was shot in 2012 with the actors who played in Erntedank , and it was shown several times on ARD and in regional programs. The third television thriller is in the works.

The book Rauhnacht was the template for a play by the Schwaben State Theater in Memmingen. Another Kluftinger play for the Landestheater, Wetterlight , is not based on a novel, but was written by Kobr and Klüpfel especially for it.

Audio books and merchandising

All Kluftinger thrillers are available as audio books in abbreviated versions, read by Klüpfel and Kobr themselves. A total of 4.5 million copies of the Kluftinger crime novels were sold (as of February 2013).

There are now two Kluftinger board games, merchandising items such as clothing and bags, and a Kluftinger cookbook. The two authors also wrote a book about their reading trips through Germany, Austria and Switzerland. From their readings with show elements, they developed the litcomedy format with which they performed in 2013.

Awards

• 2005 Bavarian Art Prize for Literature for Thanksgiving
• 2008 MIMI (Crime Audience Award of the German Book Trade)
• 2008 Culture Prize of the City of Memmingen
• 2008 Corine (Weltbild reader award) for amateur play
• In 2008 Amazon.de readers voted Commissioner Kluftinger their favorite crime hero
• 2009 MIMI (Crime Audience Award of the German Book Trade)
• 2011 Bavarian Culture Prize

Works, together with Volker Klüpfel

Michael Kobr at the reading of the patron saint in Fürstenfeldbruck, April 2012

• Milk money. Maximilian Dietrich Verlag, Memmingen 2003, (new edition by Piper in the TB ISBN 978-3-492-26227-9 ), as an audio book by Osterwold Audio, Hamburg 2013, ISBN 978-3-86952-194-7 (3 CDs, 228 min ).
• Thanksgiving. Maximilian Dietrich Verlag, Memmingen 2004, (new edition by Piper in TB ISBN 978-3-492-24511-1 ), as a radio play published by Der Audio Verlag , Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-89813-850-5 (1 CD, 81 min), from 2014 on Audiobook Hamburg ISBN 978-3-86952-226-5
• Lake bottom. Piper Verlag, Munich 2006, (TB ISBN 978-3-492-25094-8 ), as an audio book by Osterwold Audio, Hamburg 2013, ISBN 978-3-86952-195-4 (3 CDs, 225 min).
• Amateur play. Piper Verlag, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-492-05073-9 , as an audio book by Osterwold Audio, Hamburg 2014, ISBN 978-3-86952-227-2 (3 CDs, 236 min).
• Rauhnacht. Piper Verlag, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-492-05204-7 , published as an audio book by Osterwold Audio, Hamburg 2013, ISBN 978-3-86952-169-5 (4 CDs, 277 min). (Book: No. 1 on the Spiegel bestseller list from September 21 to October 18, 2009 )
• Meal !: Kluftinger's Allgäu cookbook , Piper Verlag, Munich 2010, ISBN 3-88472-890-3 .
• Patron saint. Kluftinger's new case . Piper Verlag, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-492-05205-4 , published as an audio book by Osterwold Audio, Hamburg 2015, ISBN 978-3-86952-269-2 (6 CDs, 420 min). (Book: No. 1 on the Spiegel bestseller list from June 13th to July 3rd, 2011 )
• Two single rooms, please !: Through Germany with Kluftinger Piper Verlag, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-492-27220-9 .
• Heart and soul: Kluftinger's new case . Droemer Verlag, Munich 2013, ISBN 978-3-426-19937-4 , published as an audio book by Osterwold Audio, Hamburg 2013, ISBN 978-3-86952-151-0 (10 CDs, 696 min) (book: 1st place in the Spiegel bestseller list from March 11th to April 7th, 2013 )
• Grimmbart: Kluftinger's new case . Droemer Verlag, Munich 2014, ISBN 978-3-426-19938-1 , published as an audio book by Osterwold Audio, Hamburg 2014, ISBN 978-3-86952-230-2 (12 CDs, 905 min). (Book: No. 1 on the Spiegel bestseller list from October 6 to 12, 2014 )
• In the first row you can see the sea . Droemer Verlag, Munich 2016, ISBN 978-3-426-19940-4 , published as an audio book by Osterwold Audio, Hamburg 2016, ISBN 978-3-86952-297-5 (7 CDs, 499 min).
• Kluftinger . (Book: No. 1 on the Spiegel bestseller list from May 12th to 18th, 2018 )

Web links

Commons : Michael Kobr  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Michael Kobr in the catalog of the German National Library
• http://www.kommissar-kluftinger.de/
• In the series " bergheimat ", the BR produced a 45min TV documentary in 2012 with the title Kobr, Klüpfel, Kluftinger und ihr Allgäu

References and comments

1. Jump up ↑ Terror and Dance Lesson . In: Der Spiegel . No. 22 , 2008 ( online ).
2. ↑ The new Kluftinger is called ... (accessed on June 2, 2009)
3. ↑ according to the cover text
4. ↑ Transmission date of “Erntedank” (accessed on August 28, 2009) ( Memento of the original from December 5, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
5. ↑ Weather lights . Retrieved September 16, 2016.