Obituary for Peter Zeindler – The Swiss master of the spy novel is dead – Culture

He was one of the most successful crime writers in Switzerland. Peter Zeindler has now died in Zurich at the age of 89. This was announced by his daughter to SRF.

Peter Zeindler didn’t like being called a “crime writer” at all. He preferred the term “author of spy novels”. There are “so many unbelievable crime novels today,” he once said in an interview. “I just don’t feel like I belong there and refuse them.” Spy novels like the one he wrote are a completely different genre.

Nevertheless, Zeindler will probably be remembered as a “crime author” – after all, as one of the most successful that has ever existed in Switzerland. His books sold as well as Hansjörg Schneider’s “Hunkeler” crime novels. He received the German Crime Prize four times, and in 1996 the Friedrich Glauser Prize for his complete works.

breakthrough in the eighties

Peter Zeindler was born in Zurich in 1934, grew up in Schaffhausen and studied German and art history. Before his career as an author really took off, he worked as a high school teacher and as a lecturer in German at the Goethe Institute.

At first he wrote mostly plays. He established himself as a crime and spy novel author in the 1980s with his books about the agent Konrad Sembritzki.

An antiquary as an agent

Sembritzki originally comes from Silesia and lives in Bern to disguise himself as an antiquarian. Actually, he is an agent of the German Federal Intelligence Service. As such, he repeatedly has to deal with mysterious cases, even though he has long since retired.

Peter Zeindler himself continued to work intensively well past retirement age and wrote as long and as much as he could. “I only feel alive when I can write,” he once said.

“Writing has something invigorating about it, it makes you stand out and gives you perspective: a novel has to be finished. If I stop writing, then I won’t live anymore.” Zeindler’s last novel from the Sembritzki series was published in 2014 under the title “The White Madonna”.

internationally known

What makes his books so special is Zeindler’s character drawing. The agent Konrad Sembritzki, for example, is someone with whom readers can identify. Not a James Bond who succeeds in everything, but a down-to-earth character. A melancholic, plagued by self-doubt and unlucky in love. That’s why Sembritzki grows on you.

Peter Zeindler to listen to

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A selection of SRF radio plays by Peter Zeindler to listen to:

You can find more about reading and hearing about the writer Peter Zeindler on the SRF literature platform «Views».

Peter Zeindler wrote his first espionage cases before the crime genre was even en vogue in Switzerland. He had his characters act both in Switzerland and behind the Iron Curtain. That’s why his agent novels exude international flair. This also brought him a loyal fan base in German-speaking countries.

Peter Zeindler’s work is extensive: in addition to spy novels, he has written short stories, plays and radio plays. He also worked as a moderator, editor and screenwriter.

The quality of Zeindler’s texts has never diminished. Even if the reason for his death is a sad one – it’s worth getting Peter Zeindler’s books out again.