With such a provocative title-Snow White Must Die-I was immediately drawn to this book and it did not disappoint!  Set in a small German town outside of Frankfurt this book tells the story of a love affair gone wrong, a murder and cover up that begins to unravel, and the power of money and influence to pervert  justice.

Tobias Sartorius is released after serving 10 years in prison for the murder of two 17 year old girls who vanished from his village.  Although, he was convicted on circumstantial evidence and served his time, Tobias has always been ambivalent about what happened that night.  He simply can’t remember anything about it and yet there was evidence of a struggle and the murder weapon was found in the pond at his home, but still, he can’t help wondering whether he really did it or not.  Hoping that now that he has served his time, he can move on and get back to his life, he is shocked to find that his parents have been alienated by the people of their village, the family restaurant is closed, his parents divorced and are now facing financial ruin.  On top of that, on the day of his release, his mother ends up in the hospital after a bizarre incident where she was pushed onto the train tracks.

Detectives Pia Kirchhoff and Oliver von Bodenstein begin investigating the strange accident of Tobias’ mother, when the body of one of the young girls missing for 11 years is found in an fuel tank at an abandoned airport. As they begin to investigate the old murders that Tobias was convicted of, another girl who looks like Snow White, just as the earlier girls did, goes missing. The villagers, alarmed and fearful, attack Tobias convinced that he has murdered again.

Kirchhoff and Bodenstein are immersed in a tangled plot that covers up multiple crimes and where loyalties that have been bought with money and power compete with the unraveling truth that emerges in their investigation. Interestingly, Neuhaus also shows us the human side of the two detectives, whose lives and personal crises impact their ability to do their job effectively.

I really got caught up in this book and had a hard time putting it down! Neuhaus is a well known author in Europe but this is the first of her detective series to be published in the US.  Hopefully, we will be able to read more of  her work in the future!  Translator Steven T. Murray does such an excellent job in getting the nuances of German language, culture and emotion into the English language that he makes you feel like you are right there and speak fluent German!

Brenda’s Rating:  ****1/2 (Four and a half Stars out of Five)

Recommend This Book to: Marian, Sharon, Ken and Lauren.

Book Study Worthy: Sure, why not!

Read in ebook Format.