The Collini Case - Softcover

Ferdinand Von Schirach

4.11 out of 5 stars

13,758 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0718159217 ISBN 13: 9780718159214

Publisher: Penguin Books, 2012

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From one of Europe's bestselling writers comes a spellbinding and utterly compelling court room drama, which will stay with you for a long time. Ferdinand von Schirach's The Collini Case has been at the top of the German charts since publication and will be loved by all fans of Bernhard Schlink and John le Carre. A murder. A murderer. No motif. For thirty-four years Fabrizio Collini has worked diligently for Mercedes Benz. He is a quiet and respectable person until the day he visits one of Berlin's most luxurious hotels and kills an innocent man. Young attorney Caspar Leinen takes the case. Getting Collini a not-guilty verdict would make his name. But too late he discovers that Collini's victim - an industrialist of some renown - is known to him. Now Leinen is caught in a professional and personal dilemma. Collini admits the murder but won't say why he did it, forcing Leinen to defend a man who won't put up a defence. And worse, a close friend and relation of the victim insists that he give up the case. His reputation, his career and this friendship are all at risk. Then he makes a discovery that goes way beyond his own petty concerns and exposes a terrible and deadly truth at the heart of German justice . . . The Collini Case is a masterful court room drama that will have readers on the edge of their seats from start to finish. 'A magnificent storyteller' Der Spiegel 'A murder trial full of political explosiveness: thrilling, clever, staggering' Focus 'Terrific' Elle 'Ferdinand von Schirach brilliantly draws you under his spell' Bunte Ferdinand von Schirach was born in Munich in 1964. Today he works as one of Germany's most prominent defence lawyers in Berlin. His short story collections Crime and Guilt became instant bestsellers in Germany and are translated in over thirty territories.

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About the Author

Ferdinand von Schirach was born in Munich in 1964. Today he works as one of Germany's most prominent defence lawyers in Berlin. His short story collections Crime and Guilt became instant bestsellers in Germany and are translated in over thirty territories.

From Booklist

This spare novel follows the publication of the English translation of von Schirach’s debut short-story collection, Crime and Guilt (2011). The author’s unique perspective and experiences as a defense attorney gave credibility to that collection, as it does to this novel. An Italian living in contemporary Berlin enters a hotel suite and brutally murders its occupant. Then he waits in the lobby to be arrested. All that is known of the killer is that he is a retired machinist at Mercedes-Benz. The victim is one of the richest men in Germany. The focus is on court-appointed defense attorney Caspar Leinen, who has been qualified for only 42 days. This is a pretty typical David-and-Goliath legal case, with Leinen pitted against one of Germany’s top prosecutors. But the way that Leinen digs for facts—and his eventual discoveries, which go back through his personal past and extend to the Holocaust—animate what is a tight-lipped but involving mystery. --Connie Fletcher

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