“Grade in the storm”, the gray area behind everyday life

Grado, a historic town on the Adriatic Sea: Commissioner Maddalena Degrassi is now much appreciated by her colleagues. He works hard and has learned not to get bitter blood for his superior's arrogant ways. One case, however, complicates her life. A boy, the only witness to a crime, has disappeared into thin air. Maddalena Degrassi searches for him feverishly when a sudden storm shakes Grado, throwing tourists and inhabitants into chaos. Not all evils come to harm because the storm has moved sand and earth and two corpses emerge. A new mystery for our commissioner or a trace that will allow her once again to penetrate the dark side of a quiet seaside town and find the key, or rather the ends of an intricate skein?

Now in her fourth adventure, Maddalena Degrassi in "Grade in the storm" (Emons, 2022, pp. 230, also e-book and audiobook) shows once again that she is not afraid to investigate that gray area that surrounds the daily life of everyone. we.

To the creator of Commissioner Degrassi, the Austrian writer - but now honorary gradese - Andrea Nagele we ask how her protagonist was born:

“Maddalena Degrassi is a character born from various suggestions. I am of the opinion that it is important to try to reverse the perspective and in my books the female characters have always been of great importance. Despite everything, Austria is still a patriarchal country so I wanted to put a woman in the role of police commissioner. Magdalene has a superior, a man who is the commander Achille Scaramuzza, but in all the novels I wanted to highlight how this woman is still able to defend herself from certain attitudes, strongly claiming the power that belongs to her ".

How would you describe your protagonist?

“Maddalena is a very interesting, intelligent, sagacious and also very beautiful woman. Besides his detective work, he also has an exciting love life. She is meticulous in everything she does and fights injustice wherever she meets her. I would very much like to have a glass of prosecco in his company: we certainly would not discuss the investigation. We would end up talking about the fact that we both love Jane Austen's heroines and stories very much. If we were in Austen's novels, Maddalena would be Elisabeth Bennet and me Emma, because so far I haven't found my Mr. Darcy "

How did the idea of a series of detective stories set in Grado come about and why exactly in that location on the Adriatic?

“I chose Grado, as the center of my thrillers, because this beautiful island on the sea has been a great love of mine for many years. I am very fascinated by its history, its architecture. I am thinking for example of the beautiful cathedral, but also of the landscape that distinguishes this city: the small streets, similar to those of Venice, the lagoon and its surroundings. Grado is the mother of Venice and the daughter of Aquileia: in my novels this town is truly one of the protagonists of the story ".

Why did you choose to write detective novels?

“Since I was a child, the thriller genre was the protagonist of my life as a reader and then - as a writer - it was almost natural to arrive at this genre. I remember that before Christmas, my grandmother and my mother used to read me yellows instead of fairy tales in front of the Advent wreath, an object that in Austria is one of the symbols of the Christmas holidays. This is probably where my passion for this literary genre comes from. Then the thrillers have to do with the abysses of the human soul, there is always a dark shadow and this aspect also intrigues me ”.

What he says leads us to talk about his profession as a psychotherapist. Is there a link between your profession and your writing work?

“Certainly my profession plays a very important role in my writing. I am interested in the tensions between people and the human abyss. I have been in charge of a psychiatric clinic for over 15 years. I have done many anamnesis, diagnoses, single and group therapies. All of this has had a great influence on my work as a writer. Many of the characters in my books suffer from various psychiatric diseases and disorders: schizophrenia, borderline disorders, alcoholism, panic attacks, to mention just a few of these diseases. A theme dear to me, also in the light of my work experiences, is the theme of violence against women. So there is no doubt: my profession certainly influences the writing and the definition of the characters of my protagonists ”.