Literary murder hunt: Manfred Baumann

Manfred, what connects you to Salzburg?

A great deal – mainly that I was born in neighbouring Hallein. Of course, in Hallein we say that Salzburg is a suburb of Hallein – not the other way round. After all, Salzburg owes its entire baroque splendour to the salt mined on the Dürrnberg, near Hallein, processed there and shipped along the Salzach. The salt trade brought the prince-archbishops enormous wealth – so Salzburg actually has us in Hallein to thank for all its magnificence! (Laughs.) It was only when I started at university that I really moved into Salzburg, and then I lived here for five years – but always with the admiring gaze of the visitor and the wonderful feeling of being a guest here.

"... the wonderful feeling of being a guest here" – that's a bit like your Inspector Merana, isn't it?

Right! It has always been very important to me that the investigator should come from outside – not have been born and brought up in Salzburg so that he takes things for granted. The view of a visitor is far keener than that of someone who is already familiar with everything here. When I arrive in Salzburg, stand by the Salzach and look at the Fortress and the Old Town, I still have the feeling that I'm a guest here – and every time it seems to me like a gift.

What is your interest in the genre of the detective story in general, and in the Salzburg setting in particular?

I'm fascinated by puzzles. With the question of "What lies behind it?" we're not far from the detective story. I'm a great fan of Agatha Christie, because I'm fascinated by the way she convolutes the puzzles. Weaving a net of mystery and finding a way to present the solution – that's what appeals to me. And in combination: to choose a town for the leading role – like Donna Leon and her Brunetti novels set in Venice. For my Salzburg stories, the case has to be something unusual, and the secret lead is always the town – the shimmer of the setting, the different ambiences, the highly-charged historic legacy.

What is the target readership for your Salzburg mysteries?

When I started to write my first Merana story, I had in mind readers from Vienna, Italy, Germany – people from outside. What I hadn't reckoned with was that Salzburgers might also be interested. But this is in fact so. People are always asking me about what interesting viewpoints and backgrounds I choose to highlight. There are even people who walk round the places I've used as settings, because "Baumann always sees something we don't see". That's surely because I've retained the viewpoint of the observant guest.

Your Salzburg detective stories often start with a body in a particularly memorable, mostly very prominent place in Salzburg. How do you go about choosing these places?

I always allow the place to provide inspiration. I want to situate my stories in places I like in Salzburg, in places where I find the ambience overwhelming – so, Cathedral Square, Jedermann stage. That's where I went for my first book – although I knew the place very well, I sat down there and thought about where my first corpse could lie. On the stage, of course. Next thought: who should it be? The Everyman? No – he dies anyway. But what if someone brings death to Death? That could work. And so my first Salzburg story, Jedermanntod, took its course. I always start like that, letting inspiration come from the setting. I go there and at first I just absorb the feeling. So I might stand on the Kapuzinerberg and ask myself: why might someone push someone else off the mountain? The amazing thing is: this is how the story and the protagonists always come to me. I just have to go to the place, and wait.

So are these stories somehow engraved in Salzburg?

The stories don't have to be engraved, just the way places in Salzburg present themselves in their essence – they're enormously inspiring. They take hold of me – it's probably the same for other people, too. I go to the Mirabell garden, and look at the fountains and the statues. I enter the Marionette Theatre, go backstage, see the puppets hanging there – and I know who dies there, how and why. I don't work all that out at my desk; the place tells me the story. The feeling I get in the place tells me how the story can go.

If Vienna is morbid and Munich exclusive, how would you describe the atmosphere of Salzburg?

Salzburg has a particular Italianate quality. My parents come from South Tyrol, and my great- grandmother was Italian. So I've given my protagonist Merana something of this – his name, and his particular connection through the clergy and the baroque style of the Italianate town. Salzburg, with its open squares and historic buildings, is not without a certain extremely evocative Italian ambience.

INSIDER'S TIPS

Which places in Salzburg are best suited to browsing and reading?

Of course, there are the classic coffee-houses – like the Café Bazar. You can sit and read newspapers. It has always had a reputation as a café for artists, writers and thinkers. The Salzburg writer Walter Müller, for instance, sometimes sits there to write – by hand. A special tip might be the Vis-à-Vis Doll Café in the Nonntaler Hauptstrasse; it's more than just a coffee-house – it's also a dolls' house, a magic garden, a fairytale snuggery, a boutique. Rambling, aromatic, creative. I really like that.

Which Salzburg bookshop would you recommend?

Clearly, Höllrigl, the oldest bookshop in Austria – over 400 years old, and in the centre of the Old Town in the premises of the historic Ritzerbogen house.

What places in Salzburg do you find especially evocative?

When I'm showing someone round the town, I generally begin at the Marko Feingold bridge, on the Landestheater side. From here, you have a splendid view of the Old Town. If you have time, go up to the roof terrace of the Hotel Stein and enjoy this panorama over a cup of coffee. Then cross over to the Old Town and walk a bit up the Festungsberg to view the town from a different perspective. This way, the town tells its own story. If you still have time, you should climb the Kapuzinerberg for yet another view of the town; I highly recommend this, for then you get a real feeling for Salzburg's layout and what makes its special ambience.