Hotel Cartagena

Hamburg State Prosecutor Chastity Riley and her friends are held hostage in a hotel bar by twelve armed men set on revenge, in a searing, breathtakingly original, and unexpectedly moving new thriller from the ‘Queen of Krimi’  ***WINNER of the CWA Crime in Translation Dagger 2022******WINNER of the German Crime Book of the Year Award***   ‘Simone Buchholz writes with real authority and a pungent, noir-ish sense of time and space … a palpable hit’ Independent   ‘Reading Buchholz is like walking on firecrackers … a truly unique voice in crime fiction’ Graeme Macrae Burnet   ‘[A] nerve-racking narrative … [with] a cunning climax that is shocking and deeply romantic’ The Times     Twenty floors above the shimmering lights of the Hamburg docks, Public Prosecutor Chastity Riley is celebrating a birthday with friends in a hotel bar when twelve heavily armed men pull out guns, and take everyone hostage. Among the hostages is Konrad Hoogsmart, the hotel owner, who is being targeted by a young man whose life and family have been destroyed by Hoogsmart’s actions.   With the police looking on from outside their colleagues’ lives at stake and Chastity on the inside, increasingly ill from an unexpected case of sepsis, the stage is set for a dramatic confrontation and a devastating outcome for the team all live streamed in a terrifying bid for revenge.   Crackling with energy and populated by a cast of unforgettable characters, Hotel Cartagena is a searing, relevant thriller that will leave you breathless.    Praise for the Chastity Riley series   'Combines nail-biting tension with off-beat humor ... Elmore Leonard fans will be enthralled' Publishers Weekly 'Buchholz doles out delicious black humor ... interwoven in a manner that ramps up the intrigue and tension' Foreword Reviews ‘Modern noir, with taut storytelling, a hard-bitten heroine, and underlying melancholy peppered with wry humour … there’s a fizz, a poetry and a sense of coolness’ New Zealand Listener   ‘The coolest character in crime fiction … Darkly funny and written with a huge heart’ Big Issue   ‘Fierce enough to stab the heart’ Spectator   ‘A stylish, whip-smart thriller’ Herald Scotland   ‘Combines slick storytelling with substance … like a straight shot of top-shelf liquor: smooth yet fiery, packing a punch with no extraneous ingredients watering things down’ Mystery Scene   ‘Caustic, incisive prose. A street-smart, gutsy heroine. A timely and staggeringly stylish thriller’ Will Carver   ‘With plenty of dry humour and a good old dash of despair, Simone Buchholz is an unconventional, refreshing new voice’ Crime Fiction Lover   ‘With brief, pacy chapters and fizzling dialogue, this almost feels like American procedural noir and not a translation’ Maxim Jakubowski   ‘There is a fantastic pace to the story which keeps you hooked from the first sentence all the way to the end a unique voice that delivers a stylish story’ NB Magazine   ‘A smart and witty book that shines a probing spotlight on soc

"[A] nerve-racking narrative ... [with] a cunning climax that is shocking and deeply romantic." --The Times , "Fierce enough to stab the heart." --Spectator, "Original, stylish thriller." --Foreword Reviews, "Simone Buchholz writes with real authority and a pungent, noir-ish sense of time and space ... a palpable hit." --Independent

Simone Buchholz was born in Hanau in 1972. At university, she studied Philosophy and Literature, worked as a waitress and a columnist, and trained to be a journalist at the prestigious Henri-Nannen-School in Hamburg. In 2016, Simone Buchholz was awarded the Crime Cologne Award as well as runner-up in the German Crime Fiction Prize for Blue Night, which was number one on the KrimiZEIT Best of Crime List for months. The critically acclaimed Beton Rouge, Mexico Street and Hotel Cartagena all followed in the Chastity Riley series, with River Clyde out in 2022. She lives in Sankt Pauli, in the heart of Hamburg, with her husband and son.