The English-language crime genre was set ablaze after the release of Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy, which was followed by a plethora of translated crime novels from across Scandinavia. A forthcoming title by Nele Neuhaus, Snow White Must Die, is firmly placing Germany on the European crime-literature map.
The novel centres on the cold case of two 17-year-old girls who went missing in the tiny village of Altenhain near Frankfurt. Their childhood friend Tobias Sartorius is sentenced to 10 years for their murders - despite the fact that their bodies were never found. Laura Wagner and Stefanie "Snow White" Schneeberger were never forgotten in their tiny hamlet; nor did the close-knit community ever let the Sartorius family forget about Tobias's sentence. When Tobias is released and another pretty young girl goes missing from the village, the locals decide to take matters into their own hands.
"There have been so many successful German crime-fiction writers in the last few years," says Neuhaus, from her native country, "but the Scandinavians have a different tradition than in Germany.
"In earlier times, crime writing in Germany didn't have a good reputation - it was considered a cheap kind of literature," she says. "I think there's a long way to go before German crime stories are accepted like Scandinavian in other countries, but I really hope we have a chance in other countries other than our own."
Neuhaus cites her fellow German crime writer Sebastian Fitzek as a leading novelist, whose book Therapy knocked The Da Vinci Code from bestseller status in the country in August 2006.
Neuhaus started out studying law and German at university but later relinquished academia to care for her family. However, having been writing since the age of five, she always hoped one day to publish a novel. After spending eight years writing her first book Swimming with Sharks on a part-time basis, Neuhaus found it difficult to find a publisher who was willing to take on an unknown author with a plot set in New York. Discovering print-on-demand models, she decided to go at it alone.
"I took all the money from my savings account and printed 500 copies of my book. I was so proud when I held a copy of my book in my hands. I rented out a room and invited everyone to a book launch. Then I sent copies to the local press and I got very good reviews… I sold 400 of my books within three weeks," she says.
After selling the books single-handedly through a local dealership, Neuhaus's work was picked up by a visiting publishing representative, who took her on after reading one of her novels. "That was my biggest chance and I took that chance. It was a dream come true," she says of her first book publishing deal.
Neuhaus's single advice to emerging authors is to hone your writing skills.
"You should never try and copy someone else because it is important to find your own way of writing, find your own style and be self-critical," she says.
Snow White Must Die has sold more than one million copies in Germany and is being made into a two-part series - the first part is scheduled to be screened on German television in January.
• Snow White Must Die is out tomorrow
The biog
Simon Nadim has completed 7,000 dives.
The hardest dive in the UAE is the German U-boat 110m down off the Fujairah coast.
As a child, he loved the documentaries of Jacques Cousteau
He also led a team that discovered the long-lost portion of the Ines oil tanker.
If you are interested in diving, he runs the XR Hub Dive Centre in Fujairah
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Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989
Director: Goran Hugo Olsson
Rating: 5/5
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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Liverpool 3
Mane 24', Shaqiri 73', 80'
Manchester United 1
Lingard 33'
Man of the Match: Fabinho (Liverpool)
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FA Cup fifth round
Chelsea v Manchester United, Monday, 11.30pm (UAE), BeIN Sports
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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The specs
Engine: 2.7-litre 4-cylinder Turbomax
Power: 310hp
Torque: 583Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh192,500
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