Der deutsche Krimi has its own founders — and because Germany applies the same death-plus-seventy rule, the writers who built it are now free to read, reprint and adapt.
The German-language detective novel
Wachtmeister Studer — the brooding, humane Sergeant Studer of the Bern cantonal police.
Often called the father of the German-language detective novel; the German crime-fiction prize, the Glauser-Preis, is named for him. A life of morphine, asylums and the Foreign Legion fed a body of work unlike anyone else's.
The German Sherlock
Joe Jenkins — the globe-trotting detective who was Germany's answer to Sherlock Holmes.
Wildly popular in the 1920s and historically central to the development of the Krimi in Germany. Long out of print — which makes the digital archives the place to find him.
Crime · Speculative fiction
Detektiv Dr. Sarcany — a significant figure of early German-language crime and speculative fiction.
An Austrian writer and essayist whose Dr. Sarcany stories crossed into the public domain on 1 January 2026.
German Sources
For German-language texts, the international archives are only half the story. These are the libraries to search first.
The German-language sibling of Project Gutenberg (run independently, via Spiegel Online). Thousands of German texts in readable web format.
Best for Glauser, Soyka and classic German prose.
projekt-gutenberg.org ↗A large German digital library of literature, philosophy and reference works — clean, searchable, free.
Best for full-text German classics and cross-referencing editions.
zeno.org ↗The national aggregator of German libraries, archives and museums — including scanned first editions of out-of-print Krimis.
Best for rare scans of Rosenhayn and other long-lost authors.
deutsche-digitale-bibliothek.de ↗⚠ The translation trap
For a German project built on English-language originals (Doyle, Tey, Holding…), remember that an existing German translation carries its own copyright. The translator is treated as an author: their version stays protected for 70 years after the translator's death, even when the English text is long free.
In practice you have three options: use a German translation whose translator died in 1955 or earlier; commission a fresh translation; or publish the original-language text. See the legal notes for the detail.