Addictive Books

My name is Gerhard K. Heilig. Over 70 years ago, I was born in Munich, Germany. However, I have spent much of my adult life in Austria. For several years, I also lived in the United States of America. Currently, I find myself back in Vienna, Austria, relishing retirement with my family. I like to develop websites, love reading (or listening to) crime fiction books, and sometimes I make clay sculptures in an attempt to nurture my artistic ambitions. Mostly, however, I am assisting my wife in running a small food manufacturing business.
I've been an avid reader of crime fiction books for more than six decades, starting around the age of 12 as a young boy. Although I cannot be entirely certain, it's highly likely that my initial detective novel was authored by Agatha Christie. If my memory serves me right, it was her renowned work, 'And Then There Were None,' translated into German. This was a bygone era, a time long before the Internet or even personal computers. Book recommendations were exchanged within bookstores, through word of mouth, or published in newspapers and specialized journals.
Evidently, I am not a native English speaker. Nonetheless, a significant portion of my proficiency in this language was acquired through books, mostly crime fiction and thrillers. After having learned some English in high school, I swiftly found out that translated thrillers often failed to capture the essence of their English-language originals. Since than, I have only read crime fiction in English.