In 1994 karl-markus gauss proclaimed that since 1980 every second Austrian novel masquerades as a Krimi. Indeed, crime fiction dominates current bestseller lists in Austria as it does throughout the Germanand English-speaking world. A distinguishing feature of many bestselling Austrian texts is their regional focus. In these Regionalkrimis (regional, or provincial crime novels), the protagonists investigate crimes in rural Austria, which requires them to explore the area’s culture along with the crime. Accordingly, the detectives’ narratives emphasize both the ongoing case and distinctive features of the regional landscape, cultural traditions, and residents. These descriptions notably reference familiar stereotypes and clichés of Austria and Austrians. Depictions accentuate landscapes like the fruitful Weinviertel (wine region) in Lower Austria, scenic ski resorts in the Alps of Upper Austria, and lakeside tourist resorts in Burgenland. They also allude to familiar aspects of Austrian culture such as its celebrated café tradition, its monarchical past, and its theater. The novels also refer to characteristic traits of local inhabitants, including their honesty, hospitality, and peaceful nature. Yet by filtering these familiar images through the sinister context of crime, the texts undermine them. The investigation of the crimes reveals conflicts that underlie outward projections of a model culture and society. The novels thereby use the conventions of the crime genre to challenge traditional local and international images of Austria and to subvert those preconceptions.

Three contemporary authors who capitalize on the regional crime genre’s critical potential vis-a-vis their native Austria are Alfred Komarek, Wolf Haas, and Gerhard Roth. The detective series by Komarek and Haas use the traditional narrative structure of crime novels to suggest secrets hidden behind images of a provincial idyll. Komarek’s Zwölf Mal Polt (Twelve Times Polt, 2011) offers a sympathetic depiction of a province battling to maintain its cultural integrity against external influences, while Haas’s Auferstehung der Toten (Resurrection of the Dead, 1997) gives a satirical commentary on the provincial idyll as a mere façade. Gerhard Roth’s less conventional crime narrative Der See (1995; The Lake, 2000) complements these detective novels with its harsher critique of provincial Austria that leaves little of the traditional images intact.