A bestselling German novelist was shot dead in a violent attack on the houseboat where she lived, according to officials treating it as murder.
“Skeletons in the Closet” author Alexandra Fröhlich, 58, was found early last Tuesday on her long cerise-colored houseboat on the Holshafen bank of the Elbe River in Hamburg, The Guardian reported.
The mom of three was found by her son, officials said.
“After evaluating traces and evidence, the investigating authorities now believe that the woman died as a result of violence,” a police spokesperson told local media of the case being handled by the local murder squad.
Fröhlich is believed to have died some time between midnight and 5:30 a.m., police told the outlet.
Investigators have appealed to witnesses who may have seen suspicious activity around the houseboat, but have not said if a suspect has been identified, the outlet reported.
Fröhlich began her career as a journalist in Ukraine, where she founded a women’s magazine and later became a freelance journalist.
In 2012, she began her career as a novelist with her bestselling debut novel, “My Russian Mother-in-Law and Other Catastrophes,” described by critics as “a hilarious west-east satire.”
She published additional successful novels, “Death is a Certainty” in 2016, and “Skeletons in the Closet” in 2019.
Both were published by Penguin and appeared on the Spiegel Bestseller List.
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