Murder Mystery: Who Was Author Alexandra Fröhlich?

The successful German novelist was found dead aboard her houseboat in Hamburg last week. Her semi-autobiographical books drew on former ties to Ukraine and Russia.While much is still unknown surrounding the death of 58-year-old German author Alexandra Fröhlich, the case already features various intriguing elements typical of a best-selling crime novel.

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Fröhlich was found dead on April 22, on a houseboat moored along the Holzhafenufer in Hamburg's Moorfleet district, where she was living.

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Police have since confirmed that "blunt force trauma" led to her death; they are treating the case as a homicide. No suspects have been publicly named yet.

Marriage to a Russian inspired first novels

In her first novels, Fröhlich drew on her failed marriage to a Russian.

Her breakout debut, "Meine russische Schwiegermutter und andere Katastrophen" (My Russian Mother-in-Law and Other Catastrophes), was published in 2012 by Knaur.

The semi-autobiographic comedy tells the story of a pragmatic German lawyer, Paula, who falls in love with a Russian man. She is swiftly pulled into the unpredictable world of his overbearing mother.

In the book, Fröhlich humorously tackled stereotypes and cultural clashes characterizing her cross-border family experiences.

The novel sold over 50,000 copies in Germany, landing on the Der Spiegel bestseller list, the German equivalent of the New York Times list of best-selling works. A French edition, "Ma belle-mère russe et autres catastrophes," was released in 2015.

In 2014, Fröhlich published a sequel, "Reisen mit Russen" (Travels with Russians), in which Paula journeys to Kyiv to reconcile with her estranged husband, Artjom, only to discover he has mysteriously disappeared. Paula then sets off to find him.

The novel has been described as a humorous work that is part road trip and part meditation on dislocation and identity. Like its predecessor, the novel drew heavily on Fröhlich's personal experience as the former wife of a Russian man.

'Death was her business'

With her third book, "Gestorben wird immer" (There's Awlays Someone Dying), published in 2016 in by Penguin Verlag, Fröhlich offered a family saga wrapped in a crime novel.

The story centers on 91-year-old Agnes Weisgut, the matriarch of a Hamburg-based stonemasonry business. "Death was Agnes' business," states the blurb of the book. The aging woman decides to make a full confession of her life's secrets before dying.

While the book deals with the traumas of the war generation in East Prussia, it was also praised for its "quirky humor."

Following the publication of that book. Fröhlich said in an interview with her publisher that family stories were always a fascinating source of inspiration for her — especially those that are "wonderfully dysfunctional." She also noted that she aimed to explore in that novel the so-called transgenerational transmission of trauma, or how "unspoken family secrets are passed down from generation to generation and influence the lives of children and grandchildren."

Her following novel, "Dreck am Stecken" (Hidden Dirt), from 2019, pursued her exploration of family legacies, in a story told through the eyes of four estranged brothers who reunite following their grandfather's death. He left them a box of mysterious documents from his past, which lead the brothers to uncover decades-old secrets.

Journalism career started in Kyiv

Before becoming a full-time novelist, Fröhlich also worked as a freelance writer for different women's magazines, including "Petra" and "Freundin."

According to the short biographies on her publishers' websites, she first started her career as a journalist in Kyiv, where she founded a women's magazine during the early post-Soviet era.

Alexandra Fröhlich leaves behind three sons.

Edited by: Brenda Haas

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 30, 2025 03:50 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).