Villains and Antagonists in German-Language Sud-Tyrolean Crime fiction

Abstract

Germans have long harbored a well-documented passion for the crime
fiction genre. Within the diverse landscape of crime novels, Regiokrimis represent
a particular subset of works that, as the term itself suggests, are set in specific cities
or regions. Among these, South Tyrol has undeniably exerted a singular fascination
on German readers. It is therefore unsurprising that, alongside South Tyrolean authors,
an increasing number of German writers have ventured into writing so-called
Südtirolkrimis, choosing South Tyrol as the setting for their novels. One of the most
striking differences between Südtirolkrimis by German authors and those written by
South Tyrolean authors lies in the fact that German writers combine the crime genre
with elements of travel guides and gastronomic literature. This naturally raises the
question of whether differences exist in character names, particularly regarding murderers
and antagonists. Our analysis – conducted on nine crime novel series, comprising
a total of fifty-five volumes published to date – reveals that author origin cannot be
determined from character names alone. However, certain tendencies emerge: while
German authors make greater use of fictional, unusual, and speaking names, South
Tyrolean authors predominantly opt for typical or at least common names.