Police in Hamburg have launched a murder inquiry after bestselling German novelist Alexandra Fröhlich was found dead on a houseboat following a violent attack.
Fröhlich, 58, was found dead last Tuesday morning by her son, The Guardian reported.
The police said she was likely killed between midnight and 5.30am.
Authorities said on Sunday the case had been assigned to the murder squad, forensic evidence had been collected from the cerise houseboat docked on the Elbe river Holzhafen bank in the eastern Moorfleet district, and the coroner had submitted their report.
Swabs had been taken from at least one family member for possible gunpowder residue, according to Welt. Divers from the police as well as a 3D scanner had also been deployed, amid speculation that the murder weapon might have been disposed of in the river.
German broadcaster NDR reported, citing police sources, that Fröhlich had been shot.
“According to current information, relatives found the 58-year-old woman lifeless on her houseboat and alerted the fire brigade, who were only able to confirm the woman’s death,” The Guardian quoted a police spokesperson as saying.
“After evaluating traces and evidence, the investigating authorities now believe that the woman died as a result of violence. Given the ongoing investigation, no further information can be provided at this time.”
German media reported the police had requested the public to report any information they might have about the incident, particularly any suspicious activity in the area around the time of the novelist’s death.
Fröhlich started out as a journalist in Ukraine, where she founded a women’s magazine. She later worked as a freelance journalist in Germany before publishing her first novel, My Russian Mother-in-Law and Other Catastrophes, in 2012.
The novel, based on her own experiences, became very popular, selling over 50,000 copies and landing on the Spiegel bestseller list. It was translated to and published in French in 2015.
Fröhlich also published Traveling with Russians in 2014, a sequel to My Russian Mother-in-Law and Other Catastrophes.
She followed with detective novel Death is a Certainty in 2016 and Skeletons in the Closet in 2019, both of which found great success.
She is survived by her three children.
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