Friedrich Glauser (1896–1938)

I'd admit that I had not even heard the name of Friedrich Glauser until I read Hansjörg Schneider'sThe Basel Killings which had won the prize named after him - so I went looking. Both authors are Swiss (Schneider was born in the year Glauser died: 1938) and as luck will have it, they were both translated by Mike Mitchell into English.

Thumbprint is the first of his Sergeant Studer series and is set in and around the village of Gerzenstein, close to the Swiss-French border. A traveling salesman is found dead and a local man has been identified as the murderer. Sergeant Studer is dispatched to apprehend the young man and transport him to the prison to wait for a trial - and except for sending a Sergeant where any policeman would have been sufficient, that should have been the end of it. Except that Studer is sure that they got the wrong man so he decides to investigate - despite now being just a Sergeant in the police force of the canton, he used to be an inspector - before refusing to back down from a sensitive investigation and being fired for standing on his principles and actually discovering the truth.

And off he goes - retracing the victim's last days and uncovering the secrets of the village - just as the usual English village in a British mystery story, the village here is full of secrets and half-truths and finding out what happened requires most of them to be aired out for everyone to see. I am not sure if it is the author's style or the translation but some of the narrative sounded almost lifeless - the style gets some time getting used to but even after you do, sometimes things just seem to deflate. But the investigation carries the story to the end - which is enough for a crime novel.

Some of the references make it clear that the story is set in the mid-1930s but other from that, the story does not sound dated. It has its own style and that may not work for everyone but if you like vintage crime, especially European vintage crime novels, it works very well.

Studer comes out as a bit surly - he is one of the original fallen detectives - a man who puts truth ahead of convenience and who is not beyond using a trick to get to the truth. That kind of story had become almost a cliche these days but then that's normal for successful formulas. I hope that some of the secondary characters will show up in later novels - they gave the Sergeant the touch of humanity he needed.

A good start of a series, even when it was flawed, and I plan to chase down at least a few more of them - too bad that Glauser died so young and did not write too many of them.… (mere)

In 1930s Switzerland Sergeant Jakob Studer of the Bern Cantonal Police may have finally stumbled on the “Big Case.” One involving the murders – disguised as suicide by gas – of two women. It also involves a deed to oil-rich land in Africa, people changing their identities, a mysterious priest, and “lots of brothers and sisters.”

Studer travels to North Africa under an assumed identity to track down the possible murderer and solve the “Big Case,” if it is that. Along the way he travels by donkey and tries hashish and eventually gets his answers.… (mere)

Thumbprint was written in 1936 but translated from German to English for the first time in 2004. Glauser, described as the Swiss Simenon, wrote a psychological detective series featuring the Swiss detective Sergeant Studer. Thumbprint is the first. It is surprisingly modern in its outlook, not at all a period piece. Glauser, an opium addict diagnosed with schizophrenia, spent much of his life in psychiatric hospitals. Many of his descriptions of people and surroundings are arresting in their technicolour oddness.

Studer is an honest man. He was once an inspector, but was demoted to the lowest rank for refusing to give up on a case that his superiors wanted to ignore, and has managed to work his way back to sergeant. Studer is an appealing, well-rounded character. He has arrested a young man for murdering his girlfriend's father, but something seems wrong, so Studer convinces the examining magistrate that it would be bad for his career not to allow Studer to reopen the investigation.… (mere)

Flaptekst:
Gesprongen glas
Friedrich Glauser

De buitenstaander als geniale auteur
Stuttgarter Zeitung

Friedrich Glauser wellicht de meest vooraanstaande verteller van de Zwitserse literatuur van deze eeuw.
Hofgartenpost

De Zwitserse auteur Friedrich Glauser werd op 4 februari 1896 in Wenen geboren en overleed in Nervi, Zwitserland op 8 december 1938. Tijdens de Eerste Wereldoorlog vond Glauser in Zürich aansluiting bij de belangrijkste groeperingen op het terrein van de kunst. Hoewel het met Glauser in literair opzicht sindsdien goed leek te gaan, nam het drama in Glausers leven steeds grotere vormen aan. In 1917 werd hij in het ziekenhuis opgenomen wegens longtuberculose. Hier werd de basis gelegd voor zijn latere verslaving aan morfine. Die verslaving, die zich niet alleen beperkte tot morfine, leidde ertoe dat hij vele malen werd opgenomen in psychiatrische inrichtingen en gevangenissen. De vicieuze cirkel van verslaving, opname, verlies van houvast, heeft hij zijn hele leven lang nooit kunnen doorbreken.

Bijna alle verhalen van Glauser zijn min of meer autobiografisch. Voor Glauser is het ‘vertellen' het belangrijkste. Glausers nuchter, enigszins wrang taalgebruik is gevoed door zijn uiterst onprettige ervaringen in zijn leven.

Vijf minuten zijn er nu voorbij en er is niemand gekomen. Niemand in huis heeft dus het schot gehoord. Dus kan ik nog een half uur bij je zitten en met je praten. Je hoort me niet meer, en dat is goed zo. Kom, ik wil nog even je blauwe pyamajasje over je borst dichtknopen zodat ik dat kleine donkere gat niet meer hoef te zien. Het heeft nauwelijks gebloed. En de browning, die eruitziet als een stuk speelgoed, zal ik in je hand laten. Hoe heb je het toch voor elkaar gekregen me die nog uit mijn hand te pakken? Ja, je was altijd al handig. Morgen zullen ze je vinden en ik zal dan al ver weg zijn. Niemand heeft me zien komen, ik heb goed opgelet, en niemand zal me ook het huis uit zien gaan. Morgen ... morgen ga ik trouwen... Je hoeft heus niet zo vals te glimlachen.

Uit het Duits vertaald en van een nawoord voorzien door Dineke Bijlsma… (mere)