Charlotte Link - True Crime-Talk: Wenn Fiktion auf Realität trifft - wie echt muss ein Thriller sein? x Harbour Front Literaturfestival Hamburg

As a thriller writer, Charlotte Link delves deeply into the workings of the police force while researching her books in order to portray her investigators’ methods as authentically as possible. Jürgen Schmidt looks back on 45 years of service, nearly 25 of which he spent as head of the criminal investigation department in Gifhorn, Lower Saxony. He knows the day-to-day work of the criminal investigation department from personal experience and can talk about investigations into real criminal cases, as well as the psychology of perpetrators.

To mark the release of Charlotte Link’s new book, *Kalte Tage*, we’re bringing both worlds together on one stage: Charlotte Link and Jürgen Schmidt will discuss how far reality and fiction can diverge in a thriller, where strict adherence to facts reaches its limits, and where artistic license begins. What must a thriller include to be credible? And what must it invent to turn a case into a story?

Charlotte Linkis one of the most successful contemporary German-language authors. Her psychological thrillers combine precise observations of social settings with great narrative suspense; many of her books have topped the bestseller lists and been adapted for the screen. With the Kate Linville series, she has created an investigator whose cases deal not only with crime, but always also with fear, guilt, loneliness, and the darker sides of seemingly orderly lives.

The discussion will be expertly moderated byGiuseppe Di Grazia, deputy editor-in-chief of *stern*.