Volker Klüpfel

Volker Klüpfel Leipzig Book Fair 2013

Volker Klüpfel (left) and Michael Kobr 2013

Volker Klüpfel (* 1971 in Kempten (Allgäu) ) is a German crime writer .

Volker Klüpfel grew up in Altusried in the Allgäu . He studied political science , history , communication science and journalism . After graduating, he worked as a journalist for an American newspaper and for Bayerischer Rundfunk before starting a newspaper traineeship. Klüpfel was the culture editor of the Memminger Zeitung until August 2008 , in September 2008 he switched to the supraregional culture editor of the Augsburger Allgemeine and has lived in Augsburg ever since . He has been a full-time author since 2012.

Writing activity

Together with Michael Kobr he wrote the surprise hit Milchgeld , a detective novel with which the duo made it into the nationwide bestseller lists and which has since been sold over 750,000 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 well over a million copies. In March 2008, the fourth Kluftinger crime thriller with the title amateur play appeared , which was sold 100,000 times in the first week.

Erntedank was produced as a television film by Bayerischer Rundfunk in autumn 2008 and first broadcast on Bavarian television on September 26, 2009. According to BR, the film achieved an audience rating of 26.7 percent; nationwide, 2.73 million saw him. A large part of the film was shot in Memmingen . An old Lechwerke administration building on Schweizerberg was used as a police station. Klüpfel played the coroner Boehm. 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 episode Weather Lights , a play for the State Theater, is not based on a novel, but is written by Kobr and Klüpfel especially for it.

Volker Klüpfel with stage acquisition 2012

The 5th Kluftinger crime thriller called Rauhnacht was published on September 11, 2009. It took first place in the Spiegel bestseller lists. The sixth Kluftinger crime thriller, patron saint , was published in 2011. The seventh Kluftinger crime thriller is entitled Herzblut and appeared in February 2013 with an initial circulation of 250,000 pieces. This is the first volume in the series that was published by Droemer-Knaur-Verlag, where the two authors followed their editor from Piper Verlag. Grimmbart followed in 2014 .

All Kluftinger thrillers are available as audio books in abbreviated versions, read by Klüpfel and Kobr themselves.

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 appear in 2013.

In total, the Kluftinger novels reached a total circulation of 4.5 million.

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 Michael Kobr

Michael Kobr and Volker Klüpfel during an interview at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2009

• 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 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 978-3-88472-890-1 .
• 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).
• Himmelhorn: Kluftinger's new case . Droemer Knaur, Munich 2016, ISBN 978-3-426-19939-8
• Kluftinger (Book: No. 1 on the Spiegel bestseller list from May 12th to 18th, 2018 )

Web links

Commons : Volker Klüpfel  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Volker Klüpfel in the catalog of the German National Library
• Works by and about Volker Klüpfel  in the German Digital Library
• Volker Klüpfel in the German biography
• Commissioner Kluftinger - website
• In the series " bergheimat ", the BR produced a 45min TV documentary in 2012 with the title Kobr, Klüpfel, Kluftinger und ihr Allgäu
• Interview with Volker Klüpfel and Michael Kobr on Audible Magazin (June 23, 2017)

Individual evidence

1. Jump up ↑ Terror and Dance Lesson . In: Der Spiegel . No. 22 , 2008 ( online ).
2. ↑ 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. 
3. ↑ Weather lights . Retrieved September 16, 2016.
4. ↑ The new Kluftinger is called ... (accessed on June 2, 2009)