True-Crime-Talk: When Fiction Meets Reality - How Authentic Does a Thriller Need to Be?

Bestselling author Charlotte Link in conversation with Jürgen Schmidt, former head of criminal investigations, on detective work and the psychology of offenders

For her thrillers, Charlotte Link immerses herself in the workings of the police apparatus to portray her investigators' methods as authentically as possible. Jürgen Schmidt looks back on 45 years in the force, nearly 25 of them as head of the criminal investigations department in Gifhorn, Lower Saxony. He knows the day-to-day reality of detective work from the inside and can speak to real criminal cases as well as the psychology of those who commit them.

To mark the release of Charlotte Link's new novel "Kalte Tage", both worlds come together on one stage. Link and Schmidt discuss how far reality and fiction can diverge in a thriller, where strict factual accuracy hits its limits, and where artistic licence begins. What does a thriller need to get right to be believable? And what does it need to invent to turn a case into a story?

Charlotte Link is one of the most successful German-language authors writing today. Her psychological suspense novels combine sharp social observation with gripping storytelling; many have topped the bestseller charts and been adapted for film or television. With her Kate Linville series she created a detective whose cases deal not only with crime, but with fear, guilt, loneliness and the darker undercurrents of seemingly ordered lives.

The evening is moderated by Giuseppe Di Grazia, deputy editor-in-chief of "stern" magazine.