That, no more and no less, is what Grafit Verlag aims to offer with its books. When it was first founded in 1989, the goal was not yet so clearly defined: for the first few years, the list also focused on hotel guides. Since 1999, however, publisher Dr. Rutger Booß and his five coworkers have devoted themselves exclusively to the cause of fighting crime — fictional crime, that is. By now, more than two hundred perpetrators have been brought to justice, and Grafit Verlag has long since established itself as the leading publisher of German-language crime fiction. To ensure its status as paramount crime publisher, since 2000 Grafit has been paying close attention to the crime fiction market in other European countries, and since 2005 it has begun publishing historical novels as well as ones with a contemporary setting.

The Grafit team includes Siggi Baumeister, Germany's best-known investigator. Jacques Berndorf's books regularly take the bestseller lists by storm. And detective Georg Wilsberg from Münster, created by Jürgen Kehrer, has conducted some highly successful investigations, and not just between book covers — the Wilsberg mysteries shown every Saturday night on ZDF are watched by millions of viewers. Meanwhile, Horst Eckert has created a number of heroes, continually confronting new characters with the seamy sides of society in novels that have won numerous awards. Grafit Verlag's international list includes many award-winning writers as well. Dutch authors Jac. Toes and Felix Thijssen were honored with the sought-after 'Gouden Strop' in their homeland, while Pentti Kirstilä and Harri Nykänen have been recognized as Finland's best crime novelists.

Not only does Grafit Verlag translate crime fiction into German, Grafit crime fiction has also attracted interest abroad, with translations into French, Dutch, Russian and Czech.

The man behind the colorful covers is artist and graphic designer Peter Bucker from Kamen. Since 1997 he has designed the covers for almost all of Grafit's crime novels, ensuring that the unique character of the series is maintained, despite the occasional modification. For more information, see www.peter-bucker.de.

The content of the publishing list is even more colorful than the covers, even if it is 'restricted' solely to the genre of crime fiction. Of course some of the investigating is done by police officers and detectives, but they are also joined by lawyers, journalists, taxi drivers, students and other 'normal people' — and even a killer. The stories may be sober or humorous, literary or absurd, more realistic or less, sometimes thought-provoking, sometimes 'a quick read' — but whatever the case may be, they are always suspenseful.