Thankyou to NetGalley, Quercus Books, MacLehose Press and the author, Oliver Bottini, for the opportunity to read a digital copy of A Summer Of Murder in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.
I thought this book offered a good, quick read. The storyline was well written and sets a fast pace from the outset.
I also found the central characters intriguing. 3.5 stars.
Worth a read.

Having been translated from German, the writing style is a little bit in the style of Nordic thrillers, which I quite liked. It's fast paced and made we want to keep reading. I enjoyed the weaving in of current events that featured in the plot, which gave it a very modern touch. The only downside was the brief reference to events from the first book, which I haven't read. It would have been good to explain these in a little more detail for anyone who hasn't been reading the series and this made it more difficult to fully get into this one and harder to connect with Louise as a character as I wasn't up to speed with her backstory.

'A Summer of Murder' is the the second book to feature Chief Inspector Louise Boni of Freiberg Kripo (Kriminalpolizei/Criminal Police) set in the vast Black Forest mountainous region of Baden-Württemberg, Southwest Germany, on the border with the Rhine Valley, France. It was the winner of the German Crime Fiction Award and is translated from German by Jamie Bulloch who has done a superb job.

Louise Boni has just returned to work having suffered issues when attempting to deal with having to kill a man. She had turned to alcohol to try and help her cope with the trauma and guilt she feels about ending a life. Eventually, she decides to try and get her life back in order by attending a Buddhist retreat, but unfortunately it didn't solve her problems. Meanwhile, the fire brigade have been called to a burning shed on Riedinger's farm in the Black Forest idyll of Kirchzarten where a volunteer fireman has perished after a secret underground cache of firearms and explosives inadvertently detonated leaving little in their wake.

Louise Boni has been called in to lead the task force who will be investigating exactly why the weapons were being stored there and who they belong to, this promises to be a tough nut to crack as there is limited evidence with most of it being destroyed in the fire and subsequent explosion. The evidence they do manage to collect appears to point to the involvement of Neo-Nazis who may have been storing weapons for a series of future attacks, but there is also the possibility that they belong to illegal arms dealers from Yugoslavia. Who has accumulated this weaponry and for what reason? Will Boni and partner Ilic be able to solve this complex case before more people get hurt?

This book has all of the key components that make up a fantastic crime read, Bottini excels at creating a thoroughly entertaining and truly gripping story. The political intrigue also had my attention as I am a big fan of political thrillers, and the author masterfully raises some real-world issues such as the chaos that resulted from 9/11, and the subsequent invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan. As the main protagonist, Louise is a morally sound individual who is not only having to deal with the complicated case she has landed but also has her own health to deal with. I look forward to seeing her progression in upcoming books, she is certainly an interesting character, and you really feel for her with what she is having to endure.

Many thanks to MacLehose Press for an ARC. I was not required to post a review, and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

An interesting and fascinating mystery..
The plot is great, with a lot of references to current events, and it’s a page turner that get you hooked since the beginning.
It’d be better to read the previous book in this series as there’re a lot of references to previous events.
Recommended.
Many thanks to Quercus Books and Netgalley fir this Arc

A Summer of Murder by Oliver Bottini is the second book in the series.

The book has been translated from German and the writing style took a while to get used to. I also found that the story did not fully flow.

Whilst I had not read the first book there were references to previous incidents which I assume occurred in that story. The lack of the full backstory also contributed to my understanding of the plot etc.

The storyline itself was good and if I read the previous one the I would probably have enjoyed this one more

Translated from the German, this is the second in this offbeat series featuring Chief Inspector Louise Boni of the Freiberg Kripo, located on the borderlands of the Black Forest in Germany and France, a renowned beauty spot. A divorced Louise is approaching her 43rd birthday, is returning from an enforced break she has spent at the Buddhist monastry of Kanzan-an, that played such a pivotal part in her last case. Every since she first had to kill a man, Louise developed self destructive tendencies as she turned to alcohol to try and cope with her trauma. She turns to Buddhism to help her address her drink issues and trauma rather than turn to more traditional options. However, as we learn through the novel, it is a close run thing as whether it has helped her, as she just tries to get by, one day at a time. In the Black Forest idyll of Kirchzarten, a shed on Riedinger's farm is ablaze and a volunteer fireman dies when unexpectedly a cache of firearms and explosives stored underground go up in flames. So begins an investigation that draws in numerous interested parties, including the security services and secret agents, including the FIS, the Foreign Intelligence Service, all scrambling to claim jurisdiction, ensuring a nightmare of a case to manage.

Not everyone is pleased to see Louise's return, but the chief, Almenbroich, has faith in her and tells her to pursue the truth, and to ignore anyone that prevents this happening, including her boss, Rolf Bermann. After being initially partnered with the traumatised Gunter, Louise settles into a productive partnership with the half Croat Thomas Ilic. Outside agencies are keen to point the finger at German Nazis as the ones accumulating weapons for a future war, but the evidence for this is rather thin on the ground. This is a case of high complexity that takes in the brutal history and wars in the former Yugoslavia, with a past of arms dealers securing the required weaponary for the various factions. The only ones without arms and influence were the Muslims as the horrors of the war demonstrated. Ilic as a Croat has a personal understanding of the conflict through his own and his family's experience. Struggling to get any sleep, Louise has to deal with further murders and killings, raising issues of democracy and how far one should go to defend it, and the issue of morality amidst the deadly political intrigue that is revealed.

Bottini masterfully highlights contemporary issues that have arisen and afflict the world since the planes hit the twin towers in New York and the repercussions in the US and in Europe, including the war in Afghanistan and the military interventions in Pakistan. Louise Boni provides the conscience to the eradication of the law in defining how countries should act, and the actions and behaviours in, for example, the opaque black hole in Guantanamo Bay with its political placement beyond the reaches of the law. I love the character of Louise, an unusual woman burdened and haunted by her past, personal and professional, doing her best to enforce the law in scenarios beyond the control of the police. This is a thought provoking read that I recommend highly. Many thanks to Quercus for an ARC.