Alexandra Fröhlich, the bestselling German novelist beloved for her sharp humour and crime stories, has been found dead on her houseboat in Hamburg.
Her body was discovered by her son early Tuesday morning, prompting a homicide investigation.
Police believe Fröhlich was fatally shot sometime during the night. She lived alone on a bright cerise houseboat anchored along the Holzhafen bank in the city’s Moorfleet district.
Investigators are searching the Elbe River for the suspected murder weapon and have asked the public to report any suspicious activity.
Fröhlich’s career started far from Hamburg. She began as a journalist in Ukraine, later founding a women’s magazine in Kyiv before publishing her first novel in 2012.
My Russian Mother-in-Law and Other Catastrophes, based on her own life experiences, quickly became a bestseller. She later expanded into crime fiction, writing popular titles such as Death is a Certainty and Skeletons in the Closet.
For now, police are continuing their investigation, trying to piece together what happened on the riverbank that night.
