Irene Rodrian

Irene Rodrian was born in Berlin, Germany. Her father wanted her to study graphic design, but her application to the Kunstakademie München was rejected. She worked for two years in the advertising industry before becoming a freelance graphic designer and ad consultant. At that time she began to write, but could not support herself solely from the publication of her short stories, and took jobs as a window dresser and saleswoman.

In 1967, she anonymously submitted two manuscripts for her application for the Edgar Wallace Prize of the publisher Goldmann Verlag, including Tod in St. Pauli (Death in St. Pauli), which won first prize. She then sent the manuscript for Bis morgen, Mörder (See You Tomorrow, Murderer) to Rowohlt Verlag, where it was published in 1969.

By 1992, she had published some 20 crime novels, as well as writing a series of scripts for German television films and series.

After taking a 10-year break, she returned to crime fiction with Meines Bruders Mörderin (My Brother's Murderer, 2006), the start of a series set in Barcelona featuring a group of women detectives, attorneys, and journalists.