Birgit C. Wolgarten

NOCTIS – Death, the Devil & Me A deserted street. A lonely bar. A quiet drink. That was the plan. But when Death shows up in a light-blue hoodie and the Devil arrives wearing a white pinstripe suit, an ordinary evening takes a rather unusual turn. Before long, the three strangers are sitting around a poker table, playing a game where the stakes are considerably higher than money. Between sharp remarks, dangerous questions, and increasingly absurd conversations, one thing becomes clear: Death and the Devil may know a great deal about humanity, but they don't know everything. And the quiet stranger sitting across from them? Well, he has a few secrets of his own. A darkly humorous fantasy tale about life, death, the Devil, and the unexpected consequences of underestimating a stranger.

One hen. No eggs. No compromise. Life in the quiet North Sea village of Lüttmoorsiel is wonderfully uneventful—until Gertrud stops laying eggs. What begins as a minor mystery in Anke Lorenz’s chicken coop quickly spirals out of control. Egg prices rise, journalists smell a national crisis, politicians get involved, protesters demand freedom for Gertrud, and one increasingly furious rooster develops a serious problem with the press. While Germany debates chicken rights, economic disaster and the future of the nation’s breakfast, Anke would really just like to sit on her bench, drink her coffee and be left alone. But Gertrud has other plans. A warm, absurd and wonderfully chaotic comedy about mass hysteria, village life—and one stubborn hen who accidentally brings an entire country to its knees.

Stralsund, 1888. Behind the respectable doors of the Golden Anchor, secrets simmer alongside the soup pots. When a cook is found dead in a most unusual way, Police Inspector Emil Hagen is called to investigate. What begins as a curious murder soon uncovers hidden affairs, old resentments, stolen recipes, blackmail—and more than one person with a reason to want the victim dead. With a sharp eye for human nature, a dry sense of humor, and an unfortunate tendency to think about his next meal, Inspector Hagen must separate gossip from truth before the killer slips away. A witty historical mystery filled with secrets, suspects, and a murder served with a distinctly German flavor.

Alma is old. Her life seems almost over. Then a mysterious diary appears. A name. An old letter. And a place that shouldn't exist: Aelyr. As her granddaughter Eliza tries to unravel the family's last secrets, past and present grow ever more tangled. Love, loss, guilt — and the question of whether some people never truly leave us. Between yellowed pages, fleeting memories, and quiet traces, a search begins that leads deeper than anyone expected. Because some paths don't end where we lose sight of them. And some truths wait a lifetime to be found. The further Eliza reaches into her family's past, the clearer it becomes that there is more behind Alma's silence than mere recollection. Some stories are kept alive across generations; others are deliberately buried. But nothing stays hidden forever. Not love. Not guilt. And not hope. For Alma, Aelyr is more than a place. It is a refuge that has accompanied her since childhood — through moments of joy and through the heaviest losses. As her family struggles to understand what is happening to her, the diary slowly reveals the story of several generations, making one thing undeniable: memories can be stronger than time, and some bonds endure long after the people who formed them are gone. A moving, lyrical novel about family, memory, farewell, hope, and the power of love. About the secrets we keep, the people we miss, and the question of whether some paths truly end — or simply continue somewhere else. *"If you are looking for me, you will find me in Aelyr."*