Introducing Andrea Nagele, an Austrian Crime Writer

If I say “Austria” what is the first thing that pops into your head? Bet it’s (in no particular order) mountains, snow, heaving bosoms in dirndl dresses, beer steins and schnitzel. Well … all these things may feature in Austrian cosy crime, but I suggest you take those images, strangle them, stab them repeatedly, bundle them into a body bag and drown it in the nearest blue mountain lake. Because here we are introducing you to the dark and gritty Austrian psycho-thriller!

To find out more about the Austrian crime scene (Scandi-crime watch your back) I have interviewed the popular Austrian psycho-thriller author and psychotherapist Andrea Nagele who has written many crime books set in both Carinthia, Austria and the Adriatic town of Grado in Italy – both in an area known locally as the “Alpine-Adriatic Region”.

Andrea, thank you for talking to Crime Warp! Let me launch into my first question:

What features in the Austrian crime scene?

Quite a bit of light hearted ´regional crime´ which could be translated as ´cosy crime´ but that´s not my bag really.  As a psychotherapist, my natural interest is in the psycho-thriller genre.  Similar to many British female crime authors I like my books to unfold in the context of ´real life`. In Germany there is a well-developed psycho thriller market, but not in Austria. We do however have a tradition of light hearted, fun crime books. German reviewers like to recommend my books because they provide an alternative to the light-hearted version. In Austria we also don´t have what you call ´agents´ in English; in Austria and Germany we only have government employed police officers,  the ´agent´ culture does not exist here.

What, in your experience, is a key difference between readers in the British and Austrian market?

Austria has a nonsensical habit of differentiating fiction into what is called ´literature´ and ´non-literature´. A differentiation that does not exist in the English-speaking world, where books are defined as ´fiction´ or ´non-fiction´ and fiction could just as easily include works by Jane Austen as JK Rowling. In Austria there is a snobby differentiation between ´highbrow literature´ and ´lowbrow literature´ and I don´t like this attitude; I think good, creative use of language and description is important and excellent examples can be found just as easily in crime or in a non-fiction book.

You write about domestic abuse and the abuse and murder of women in your book ´Tod am Wörthersee´. With this you tackle a difficult subject in a country where families do not ´air dirty laundry in public´ and women are frequently the victims of traditional expectations and oppressive attitudes under a thin veneer of modernity.

Every psychotherapist has areas of specialism and one of my specialisms is to work with crime victims. I was a therapist for a government supported scheme where abused women were provided with therapy; that is why I have worked so much with rape victims and victims of sexual assault, both men and women. My work has led me to specialise in post-traumatic stress disorders. So I write about these issues because I understand them and work with them.

Austria is a small country that borders many other countries – the Carinthia area in southern Austria from which you write borders onto Slovenia and Italy; you also set a series of books in the Adriatic town of Grado, Italy, with a female lead protagonist – Comissaria Degrassi. Can you tell me what inspired this border-crossing crime writing?

You have to consider what this special geographic area means to us – as Austrians, Italians and Slovenes - culturally, politically and historically. I don´t write about these issues specifically in my crime novels but it does provide colour to the characters and informs the background of the novels.

It was not difficult for me to write a crime book set in Grado, Italy because we have been spending our holidays there for so many years. I first went there with my parents as a child and we continue to spend time there every year. We also have many Italian friends with contacts who were able to help me in my research.

After the darkness of writing about women as victims in your books set in Austria was it liberating to put a woman into a ´power position´ like Comissaria Degrassi in your crime books set in Grado, Italy?

Yes, it was fun! Especially since Italy is such a male dominated society and particularly the police in Italy are a very male dominated organisation. So it was great fun to place a woman into this scenario as a counterpoint to the macho behaviour of her colleagues.

How do you cope emotionally – immersed professionally in the darkness of the human mind in a clinical setting as a psychotherapist and then immersing yourself in the world of crime in your spare time? What do you do for fun?

I spend time with my family and I love nature and cooking – I´m a real foodie! I don´t find writing stressful at all, the only thing I find stressful is when things stop me from finding the time to write. Writing is important to me, it contributes to my quality of life.

What are you working on now?

Well, I write on average two books per year – my publisher wants a crime book set in Carinthia for each autumn and a crime book set in Italy each spring. At the moment I am working on the third book in my series set in Grado. I am not sure what it is called yet, because my publisher chooses the titles for the books, but we have agreed that the titles for the Grado series will be named after the weather, so we have ´Grado in the rain´, ´Grado at dusk´… the Carinthian series always has `death` in the title – `Death on the Wörthersee`, `Death in the Karawanken` etc but I am now for the first time allowed to break the ´Death´ title series with a book called `Carinthian Lullaby` (out in the autumn).

How do crime authors network and share ideas in Austria? In the UK we have festivals such as the Crime Writers´ Festival in Harrogate and blog sites such as Crime Warp, does Austria have any such blogs and events?

I am part of a crime writer’s network in Germany called ´murderous sisters´ but I am not involved in any such activity here in Austria because I do not know if it exists. I´m only aware of the German crime writers scene. In this way Germany is much more similar to Britain in terms of networking, support groups and events.  In Austria I am only aware of informal contacts to each other. We do need to take a page out of Britain´s book on this one!

If you were hosting a ´crime writers and main protagonist´ party and could invite anyone you want – who would you invite? Dead or alive…

Inspector Montalbano – I have cooked some of the Sicilian recipes from the book and he does understand his food! I would also like to invite Charlotte Link – a German crime author, or Ruth Rendell because I really admire her work (also under her pseudonym Barbara Vine) and Paula Hawkins, the author from `Girl on the train`.  I feel very much at home in the British crime scene that is my spiritual home because I read mainly the British crime authors. There are so many great female crime authors in Britain. I would love to invite so many – but I suppose it would be mainly a dinner party for the girls…

Final question – when can we read your books in English?

That would be wonderful! Currently my books are available in German and Italian, you can find them on Amazon. But I would love to be published in English! So if anyone out there is interested in translating them please let me know!

Thank you for joining us on Crime Warp today Andrea, and we hope to be able to read your fabulous books in English soon! 

Andrea Nagele was in conversation with Sylvia Campbell, our Austrian blogger.