In this collection anything might happen.

Fähner is a small-town doctor whose patience with his merciless wife runs out after a lifetime spent suffering her abuse.

Theresa and Leonhard, brother and sister, escape a harsh upbringing only to find themselves separated in the most heartbreaking way.

Michalka is a reluctant bank robber. On the brink of despair, he finds an unlikely salvation.

Feldmayer, a museum security guard, is driven to bizarre extremes by his obsession with his job.

Ferdinand von Schirach, one of Germany's most prominent defence lawyers, is also a master storyteller. Every sentence in his book is washed through with his cool compassion. His characters, in all their unpredictability, are wonderfully alive. Their indelible experiences challenge us to question the nature of guilt and innocence, truth and reason, law and justice.

Crime may change the way you judge the world.

'Utterly absorbing collection of 11 stories ... told in a cool, patient voice that immediately draws the reader in.' New York Times Book Review