Join the Goethe-Institut Chicago and the Austrian Consulate General for a reading by Austria’s best known crime writer Wolf Haas. Born in 1960 in Salzburg, Haas has authored seven books in the bestselling ‘Detective Brenner’ mystery series. Each title has sold in the hundreds of thousands and three volumes have been made into popular German language films. Haas reads from ‘Brenner and God’ (Der Brenner und der liebe Gott) in both English and German.

Simon Brenner is an ex-detective who has now turned to a quieter career as the personal chauffeur for two-year-old Helena, the daughter of a Munich construction giant and a Viennese abortion doctor. One day at the gas station, while Brenner’s attention is turned to picking out a chocolate bar for Helena, the little girl gets snatched from the car. Now out of a job, Brenner decides investigate her disappearance on his own. With both parents in the public eye, there’s no scarcity of leads - the father’s latest development project has spurred public protest, and the mother’s clinic has been targeted by the zealous leader of an anti-abortion group. Set in Vienna’s gas stations, betting parlors, and “Yugoslav” discos, ‘Brenner and God’ features a dubious cast of powerful characters: there are Viennese politicians, bankers, and real estate magnates, all implicated in the kidnapping.

Told in a playful style that has won the admiration of readers around the world, Haas writes with a dark humor that leaves no character, including Brenner, unscathed. Among other prizes, the Brenner books have been awarded the German thriller prize and the 2004 Literature Prize from the City of Vienna.

Recorded live Friday, June 28, 2013 at Goethe-Institut Chicago.