The Assignment

Name: The Assignment
Author: Friedrich Dürrenmatt

by Friedrich Dürrenmatt

Detective assigns himself an impossible task involving artistic interpretation of crime

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About the author

Friedrich Dürrenmatt

Friedrich Dürrenmatt was a Swiss playwright and novelist who wrote two of the most philosophically serious detective novels in European literature. The Judge and His Hangman and The Pledge refuse the conventional satisfactions of the mystery genre, using detective fiction to examine justice, fate, and the limits of human reason. His work is considered essential reading in any serious study of crime fiction.

More by Friedrich Dürrenmatt

The Judge and His HangmanSwiss detective uncovers corruption when a police official is executed by his hangman
The SuspicionDetective investigation unravels when paranoia and doubt become the central mystery
The PledgeDetective makes an impossible pledge to solve a child's murder in a small Swiss town
The Execution of JusticeDetective pursues elusive criminals navigating through Swiss legal and political systems
The VisitWealthy widow's visit to poor village triggers cascade of betrayal and murder
The PhysicistsScientists face moral reckoning when physicists' discoveries threaten civilization's survival