Murder of the Mostviertel forging pope

“Mostviertler Grafen” is the name of Helmut Scharner’s new crime novel, which will be available in stores from Wednesday. Major Brandner is investigating in the circle of the “Black Counts” on the Eisenstraße: a dead man is discovered in the water while drifting in the Mendlingtal. His body was crushed by tree trunks, but the cause of death is different: he was stabbed with a forged nail. It quickly becomes clear: the dead man is “smith pope” Gottfried Lugbauer, an influential figure on the Mostviertler Eisenstraße. His successor is hotly contested. Shortly before his death, Lugbauer also held a blacksmithing course in a revitalized forge in the Mendlingtal. When the murder weapon and the fingerprints of one of the five course participants were found there, the solution to the case seemed within reach. But a watertight alibi and another murder turn the investigation upside down. When human lives are again in danger, a race against time begins for Brandner and Lindner.

Helmut Scharner was born in 1975 in Ybbsitz in Lower Austria, the blacksmith capital of Central Europe. He works as a sales manager for the largest Austrian steel group. He travels a lot around the world, both professionally and privately, but his focal point is the Lower Austrian Mostviertel, where he lives with his family. Helmut Scharner has already written several successful crime novels that are anchored in his homeland. He is a member of the authors’ associations “Das Syndikat” and the Austrian crime writers.

The premiere reading will take place at Thalia Amstetten on Thursday, February 23, at 6:30 p.m.