Detective Brenner Books In Order

Publication Order of Brenner Books

The Detective Brenner series is a series of mystery & thriller novels written by the famous Austrian author named Wolf Haas. There is a total of books published between the years 1996 and 2008. All the novels of the Detective Brenner series feature the main character in the form of Simon Brenner, who is described by the author as a police detective based in the Columbo of Austria. Author Wolf Haas had initially written the series in the German language and after is immense success, it was translated into the English language for the English readers in England and America, as well as from all over the world. The plots of the novels of the Detective Brenner series feature Simon Brenner as a former police detective from the Austrian police force. He later served as a private eye and then as a chauffeur. Throughout the series it is seen that he always yearns for having a simple life. But, he seems to face bad luck all the time as he somehow gets indulged into murder and criminal cases. These cases seem to follow him wherever he goes. His unique portray of the personality as described by author Wolf Haas has helped the series to become an award winning series.

As a less frequent change, the readers got to experience a better series of German thrillers, especially written by an Austrian author. The character of Simon Brenner in the series proves to be a breath of fresh air. He is described by the author as a flawed but sincere and decent hero of the common man. Simon Brenner is easily recognizable and quickly likeable by the readers. He goes through his life alarmed with a shrug instead of a weapon, as well as bolsters a quick wit and a wry humor sense. Throughout all the novels of the series, Simon tends to show compassion towards the victims. He typically wears a cosmic clothing with the tag of “Kick Me” at the back. Because of the suspenseful and humorous elements, the series went to become a huge hit all over Europe. It became so much successful that three of the novels of the series were adapted into three different movies, which were made in the German language. For his excellent work in writing down the novels of the series, author Wolf Haas has won many prizes including the Deutscher Krimipreis, which is the German prize in crime fiction. Haas has won this award for three times in his writing career. In the year 2004, he also won the Literature Prize from the Vienna City for his excellent contribution to the novels of the series.

The first novel of the Detective Brenner series was published in the year 1999 under the English title ‘Resurrection of the Dead’. In the opening sequence of the plot of this novel, a couple is found dead, lying on the opposite sides as a ski lift. The man was headed uphill while the woman was headed downhill The police is not able to find out the reason for this, due to which the case falls under an ex-policeman named Simon Brenner, who now works as an insurance investigator. As the case comes to him he moves to the village called Zell, which was situated at the base of the ski resort, Swiss. Simon tries to insinuate himself slowly into the culture of the village and at the same time investigate the murder case of the elderly couple at the ski resort. In the village,Simon Brenner meets with the wealthy relative of the victims named Vergolder, who is the only suspect in the murder. He also sees the nephew of Velgolder, who seems to be an institutionalized man and is the second suspect of the murder. The police investigation into the case had ended because each one of them had provided an alibi for one another. Simon Brenner stays in the Zell village, during which he collects some information here and there, but he could not reach to a final conclusion as to was the real killer of the elderly couple at the ski resort. The killer does not get exposed until the end of the novel. Simon Brenner learns that there are terrorist who are planning to demolish a dam in Zell and also look to destroy the ski resort. Soon, many romantic relationships of Simon Brenner comes in front of the readers, such as with a school teacher, with a reporter, with a German woman, and many more like it. However, Simon believes that those relationships are only because of the confusion of people. In fact, he says that he has never met any one woman, with whom he was blamed to have romantic relationships. As he moves ahead with the investigation and stops at nothing in order to bring up any clues about the real murder. As Simon continues to find the clues in the investigation of the murder case, he struggles with migraines. He is also required to make a report to his investment company.

The second novel of the Detective Brenner series written by author Wolf Haas was published under the title ‘The Bone Man’. The plot of this novel continues to feature the character of Simon Brenner as an ex-policeman. In the opening sequence of the plot of the novel, Simon Brenner is depicted as a private investigator and gets summoned the daughter-in-law of the owner of a famous fried chicken restaurant. He is asked to investigate the human bone discoveries in the chicken carcasses. The owner is obliged to dispose of the human bones with the help of a bone grinder in order to safeguard the reputation of the restaurant. The man who operates the bone grinder is named Yugo Milanovic, who is also a goalkeeper in the small-tier soccer team of the town. During his time, Simon had done a lot of miracles on the football ground and had helped his home team to win against the rival team. Therefore, when he returns back to the town in order to investigate the discovery of human bones, he is welcomed as the same local hero as he was for his home team. But, he is not able to find the woman who had summoned him. Now, he gets involved in two cases at the same time.