The Murder Farm by Andrea Maria Schenkel
My rating: 3/5 cats
this is a very slim crime novel based on an unsolved murder case that took place in bavaria in 1922. schenkel sets this book in the 50s which allows her to use the aftermath of WWII to further darken the mood, but other than that, the basic facts are the same: one night, in a rural locale, six people were killed: a farmer, his wife, their grown daughter, her two children, and a maid on her first night in their employ. all were killed with a pickaxe, and their bodies were found scattered about the barn and farmhouse when neighbors concerned that they had not seen them in church or in school eventually went to check on them.
the story is structured as a series of interviews conducted by a former resident of the village who returns to try to solve the crime. these testimonials are offset by om-narr POV chapters of events leading up the the murders and fragments of hymns or prayers, which become more chilling used in this context.
we are told by our investigating narrator that
The people I met there were very willing to tell me about the crime. To talk to a stranger who was nonetheless familiar with the place. Someone who wouldn’t stay, would listen, and then go away again.
for all that, some of the residents are not at all willing to get into the specifics, some do not have much useful information, and some are just there to gossip. and there is a lot to gossip about the danner family. old danner, the patriarch, was not a likable man. rumors of wife-beating and incest swirl around him, and his avarice is well-known. his loveless marriage to an older woman got him his farm and his daughter, and his habit of harassing his household help and of hiring drifters for farm labor and bragging to them about the money he has hidden around his farm is well-known. no one mourns his death, but the children are another matter. the crime shocks the community and speculation and rumors run wild, all to the ears of our unnamed narrator.
the documentary style lends to book to In Cold Blood comparisons, but this is a much starker treatment with no conclusions for the police, the villagers or the narrator, and only the reader is allowed to know the truth of what happened, in the final chapter.
it’s a fast read, and the structure is smart and unusual enough to prolong interest, but it ultimately didn’t “wow” me enough to leave a lasting impression, and at the resolution i was just like, “oh, okay, that’s what happened? good to know.” but it wasn’t a major earth-shaker or anything. definitely worth the read, but it’s not going to haunt you forever or anything.
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