Deep Dark Blue

“A highly intriguing debut”  – The Times (Crime Book of the Month)

“Highly recommended . . . Elegantly written and set in an unfamiliar but lovely city brought to vivid life”  – Irish Independent

An atmospheric, contemorary police procedural set on Lake Zurich, introducing intelligent and warm-hearted detective Rosa Zambrano and perfect for fans of Donna Leon

Available in English for the first time, and perfect for fans of Ann Cleeves, Sarah Pearse, and Donna Leon, this expertly plotted police procedural spent several months on the Swiss bestseller lists, garnering widespread critical acclaim as a gripping crime novel that still makes a holiday in Zurich sound like fun.

Water washes away everything, even the bodies.

Lake Zurich is Rosa Zambrano’s beat. Once a detective with the Criminal Investigation Department, she’s now exchanged serious crimes for the serenity of the water, patrolling it daily as the first female officer in Zurich’s maritime police force.

Then one day, the body of Dr Jansen, a renowned fertility doctor and successful biotech entrepreneur, is dredged up in a fisherman’s nets.

The case hits close to home for Rosa – she was a patient of Jansen’s and saw him only days before he was killed. The investigation leads her from the opulent villas on the lake’s shores to genetic research labs and a thriving escort service on the outskirts of the city – and to four women, each of whom has rejected the hand she’s been dealt.

With a uniquely captivating European setting and refreshingly modern female protagonist, Deep Dark Blue is the first in a new crime series starring the intelligent and warm-hearted investigator Rosa Zambrano.

Seraina Kobler, born in Locarno in 1982, studied linguistic and cultural studies before working as a journalist for publications including the Neue Zürcher Zeitung. In 2020 she published her debut novel, Regenschatten. Her first Zurich-based crime novel featuring officer Rosa Zambrano, Deep Dark Blue, spent months on the Swiss bestseller lists. Seraina lives with her family, and works, in Zurich and Lausanne.

Alexandra Roesch is a bicultural, bilingual freelance translator based in Frankfurt, Germany. An experienced translator of fiction and nonfiction, she has an MA in translation from the University of Bristol and was longlisted for the 2018 Helen & Kurt Wolff Translator’s Prize.