In Germany, the author of a bestseller about Russians died under mysterious circumstances

The German writer and author of the best-selling book about "the life of Russians" Alexandra Frelich was found dead on board her houseboat in Hamburg. The security services and the media have no doubt that a 58—year-old woman was killed. However, the background of the case is shrouded in mystery.

Alexandra Frelich's body was discovered by her son last week, but information about the writer's death reached the media only a few days later. A 58-year-old woman moved with her whole family to a houseboat on the Elbe just six months ago.

"After assessing the traces and evidence at the scene, investigators confirmed that the woman died as a result of an act of violence," a local police spokesman said, adding that there was a gunshot wound on the body.

"Bild" drowns out that one of the writer's family members had swabs taken from his hands to check if he could have fired a pistol. The murder weapon itself was not found, although divers searched the bottom of the Elbe for several days.

EADaily adds that Froelich started her career as a journalist on Ukraine, where she founded a women's magazine in Kiev. Later, she worked as a freelance journalist in Germany for women's and other magazines, such as Stern, before taking up writing novels. In 2012, she published her debut novel, My Russian Mother-in-Law and Other Disasters, which, according to her, is based on her own experience of marrying a Russian. The novel entered the list of bestsellers of the magazine "Spiegel". It was subsequently translated into French. Critics have described it as a "hilarious west-east satire."