Bösewichte und Gegenspieler in deutschsprachigen Südtirolkrimis

Abstract

Germans have long harbored a well-documented passion for the crime fiction genre. Within the diverse landscape of crime novels, Regiokrimis represent a particular subset of works that, as the term itself suggests, are set in specific cities or regions. Among these, South Tyrol has undeniably exerted a singular fascination on German readers. It is therefore unsurprising that, alongside South Tyrolean authors, an increasing number of German writers have ventured into writing so-called Südtirolkrimis, choosing South Tyrol as the setting for their novels. One of the most striking differences between Südtirolkrimis by German authors and those written by South Tyrolean authors lies in the fact that German writers combine the crime genre with elements of travel guides and gastronomic literature. This naturally raises the question of whether differences exist in character names, particularly regarding murderers and antagonists. Our analysis – conducted on nine crime novel series, comprising a total of fifty-five volumes published to date – reveals that author origin cannot be determined from character names alone. However, certain tendencies emerge: while German authors make greater use of fictional, unusual, and speaking names, South Tyrolean authors predominantly opt for typical or at least common names.