Synopses & Reviews
The body of 92-year-old Jossi Goldberg, Holocaust survivor and American citizen, is found shot to death execution style in his house near Frankfurt. A five-digit number is scrawled in blood at the murder scene. The autopsy reveals an old and unsuccessfully covered tattoo on the corpse's arm—a blood type marker once used by Hitler's SS. Pia Kirchhoff and Oliver Bodenstein are faced with a riddle. Was the old man not Jewish after all? Who was he, really? Two more, similar murders happen—one of a wheelchair-bound old lady in a nursing home, and one of a man with a cellar filled with Nazi paraphernalia—and slowly the connections between the victims becomes evident: All of them were lifelong friends with Vera von Kaltensee, baroness, well-respected philanthropist, and head of an old, rich family that she rules with an iron fist. Pia and Oliver follow the trail, which leads them all the way back to the end of World War II and the area of Poland that then belonged to East Prussia. No one is who they claim to be, and things only begin to make sense when the two investigators realize what the bloody number stands for, and uncover an old diary and an eyewitness who is finally willing to come forward.
The Ice Queen is a character- and plot-driven mystery about revenge, power, and long-forgotten and covered up secrets from a time in German history that still affects the present.
Review
Praise for
Bad Wolf:"Absorbing and intricately constructed...The pavement-pounding pays off for the reader, as well as for the cops, in an action-filled finale rife with dramatic revelations."—Wall Street Journal "Neuhauss sequel to Snow White Must Die demonstrates the authors maturing skills...this nuanced effort suggests why the author is a bestseller in her native Germany."—Publishers Weekly
"...this thriller works! Fans of Jo Nesbös gritty thrillers will enjoy the intricacies of the plot."—Library Journal
"The conclusion...will leave you gaping in surprise and quiet horror."—Bookreporter
"This is no fairy tale, but it is a satisfying thriller."—Shelfawareness
Praise for Snow White Must Die: "Readers won't stop until the shocking ending is finally revealed." —USA Today "[An] emotional page turner, fueled by unexpected plot twists." —Kirkus Reviews "[An] impressive multidimensional police procedural." —Publisher's Weekly (starred review) "[Will] keep readers turning the pages up to the unpredictable ending. . . an addictively engaging mystery." —Library Journal "Exciting and well-crafted." —The Wall Street Journal "Nele Neuhaus has a flair for the ominous and the ornate." —The Washington Post
About the Author
NELE NEUHAUS is one of the most widely read German mystery writers and the author of Snow White Must Die and Bad Wolf. More than four million copies of her books are currently in print. She lives near Frankfurt, Germany.