Silentium! (Novel)

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Silentium! is the fourth of the Brenner crime novels by Wolf Haas and was published in 1999. Like its predecessor, Come, Sweet Death , the work was filmed (under the title Silentium ).

content

Bishops, mayors and governors have emerged from the boys' internat Marianum for centuries . But since the good reputation of the boarding school is at stake due to rumors , the director of the boarding school, Regens , hires the detective Brenner. After long discussions with the rain, with two prefects (the sports prefect Fitz and the prefect with the harelip), Brenner finally hears the rumor. Rumor has it that the former spiritual and current candidate for bishopric Schorn thirty years ago assaulted a boy named Gottlieb Meller, who is only now really dealing with the events of that time. The sports prefect Fitz also mentions the name of Meller's psychiatrist, namely Dr. Prader. He tells him that Fitz did not become a priest because he impregnated an art student, and that Meller is the son-in-law of the Vice President of the Salzburg Festival .

Meanwhile, a momentous find occurs in the Marianum: Gottlieb Meller is found dismembered in a football table. The police believe that it was a homeless man because Meller entered the shower rooms on his journey into the past and he probably thought he wanted to conquer his territory. The homeless man was found dead hanging from the ceiling. After Meller's funeral, Brenner wants to talk to the widow to find out more about their circumstances, but since she reacts very negatively, he turns to Miss Schuh, the chief secretary at the Festspielhaus. She tells him that both the daughter of the Vice President and her husband Gottlieb Meller had problems with him. It is also Miss Schuh who gives Brenner a ticket for the opera.

At the opera he meets the widow, who this time comes up to him in a friendly manner. She tells Brenner that the day before he was murdered, her husband trumpeted that he had evidence of his abuse. It is also she who tells him that someone copied the address files and that someone may have been her husband. However, these files not only contain the addresses of the residence of certain festival visitors, but also additional information such as secret preferences. She also tells him that her husband has an index card of the Catholic marriage agency Dr. Phil. Guth had found. It had a name that he knew, namely that of a kitchen maid from the Marianum from his school days. She disappeared overnight at the time and got married despite her 15 years.

At the end of the conversation, the widow Brenner invites you to a charity event the next evening. When the detective senses a lead, he goes to the said agency Dr. Phil. Guth who is now a marriage counseling center. There he learns that Dr. Phil. Guth has already passed away. The wife of Dr. Prader works there.

In the afternoon, Brenner makes his way to Dr. Prader. In the garden this one introduces him to Rene. Rene is a clever person, but was sent to the juvenile detention center for two months for minor offenses. When he broke out there four weeks later and ran away with the daughter of the director of the juvenile detention center, the original two months became two years. Brenner decides that he will be his helper in the undercover investigation at the Dr. Use Phil Guth to steal the file that reads "Mary Ogusake, Petting" that the murdered man's wife told him about. Rene finds out that petting means a place in Bavaria and not the sexual act of the same name .

In the evening at the charity event, Rene Brenner tells what he learned. Rene also asks Dr. Prader and the sports prefect Fitz without further ado why there are so many Filipino girls in the Marianum . Fitz explains to him that they come here to take courses in Austria. However, many stayed here and got married. At the ceremony, the Vice President asked Brenner not to bother his daughter any longer.

When Rene meets Mary Ogusake in Germany, he learns from her that this partnership agency actually places Filipino girls for the actors of the Salzburg Festival Weeks. Gottlieb probably found that out and had to die because of it. The next day, Rene Brenner called and asked him to come to an agency in Germany (petting). When Brenner arrives, Rene is not there, but the agency's building is not locked. Brenner decides to enter the house and finds Mary Ogusake's dismembered body in the living room.

Rene is suspected and goes into hiding. Brenner continues to investigate and uncovered the true conspiracy through the death of Mary. For years, the Prefect Fitz has been running a maiden trade with this marriage agency to lure actors to Salzburg. Brenner also finds out that Ms. Schuh is the mother of the sports prefect. He finds Frau Schuh on the way to the Festspielhaus. A woman jumped from the Mönchsberg . There they find Frau Prader's body.

Brenner now realizes that Fitz is the killer and meets him in the shower rooms of the Marianum . Fitz confesses and admits the murders of Gottlieb, Mary and Mrs. Prader, whom he pushed down from Mönchsberg. He cleverly locks Brenner in the shower room and tries to scald him with hot water. Rene is there, overwhelms the sports prefect and puts a plastic bag over his head while he saves Brenner. The two then portray the situation as if Fitz had killed himself.

characters

  • Simon Brenner is a private detective and the main character in many Haas novels
  • Der Regens is a priest and head of the Marianum boys' boarding school .
  • Fitz is sports prefect (prefect = sub-boss, educator) at the Marianum .
  • Elderly Prefect is an elderly man with a harelip.
  • Gottlieb Meller is an ex-pupil of the boys' boarding school.
  • The widow is Gottlieb Meller's wife and daughter of the Vice President of the Salzburg Festival.
  • Dr. Prader is a psychiatrist and probation officer.
  • Schorn is a former spiritual director at the Marianum and current candidate for bishopric.
  • Miss Schuh is the chief secretary at the Festspielhaus.
  • René is a former prison inmate and now a helper of Brenner.
  • Mary Ogusake is a former kitchen maid at the Marianum .
  • Mother Superior is a nurse who works in the boarding school.

Motifs

One of the two key motifs refers to the central location, the Marianum , a pen for priestly children: it is about Mary and other virgins or the trade raised with them, about a dramatic "Mariechen" appearance and an ironic "immaculate" conception.

The other central motif connects the scene of the crime with the scene of Salzburg ; Complementing the Silentium (calm, quiet) that is present everywhere in the Marianum , it is always about listening - less the classical melodies than more profane noises of all kinds - about artificial and cut off ears, and finally all kinds of misunderstandings. One of these ends the book with a final chapter after an oppressive showdown.

Award