Jürgen Ehlers
Nine Bodies and a Dead Swan

Düsseldorf, February 1929. By the fence of a large construction site the body of a little girl is found. Strangled, abused, stabbed, poured over with petrol and burned. “Who would do such a thing?” asks one shocked policeman. The cynical reply: the father, probably. Or the uncle. But this case is different. Kommissar Wilhelm Berger is soon overwhelmed with a whole series of brutal assaults on men, women and children. Are these the deeds of a madman? Finally a suspect is caught and admits to everything. But the gruesome murders continue. The book is based on a true case, though the names of the victims have been changed. Jürgen Ehlers describes the hunt for compulsive serial offender Peter Kürten, who over months held the people of Düsseldorf in terror and suspense. Peter Kürten entered the crime history books under the name of The Vampire of Düsseldorf.