Prologue: Noirmoutier Island, July 18, 1983
Monday, September 3, 2018

Day 1: Thursday, September 6, 2018
Day 2: Friday, September 7, 2018
Day 3: Saturday, September 8, 2018
Day 4: Sunday, September 9, 2018

“No matter what those guys did,
It saved my life.
I didn't even expect anything in return.

“Only eternal friends can do that.”

The 'Taunus Series' is a high-quality crime mystery series in which the unique characters of the Hofheim Police Station's Violent Crimes Unit 11, centered around Oliver von Bodenstein, a male detective with a gentle charisma, and Pia Sander, a female detective with extraordinary intuition, solve murder cases in the Taunus region against the backdrop of nature.
The fourth work in this series, 『Death to Snow White』, published in 2005, entered the bestseller list just three days after its publication in 2010 and remained at the top for a whopping 32 weeks.
This work, which established Nele Neuhaus as the queen of German mystery, has sold over 3.5 million copies in Germany alone and has been published in over 30 countries, selling over 10 million copies in total.
In Korea, Nele Neuhaus was first introduced in 2011 with 『Death to Snow White』, and this series raised the public awareness of German genre novels, which had been a non-mainstream genre until then.
Since 2013, the Taunus series has been broadcast as a TV miniseries on Germany's ZDF, starring Tim Bergman and Felicitas Boll, achieving high viewership ratings, and "Snow White's Death" will also be adapted into a drama in Korea in 2022.

"Towards Eternal Friendship" is a masterpiece that contains a complex story surrounding the desire for knowledge and literary power, which is the basis of the "eternal friendship" and the root of the "secret" in the work, in an efficient multi-layered structure. Various characters who make up a publishing company, such as writers, agents, editors, salespeople, publishers, and managers, appear as perpetrators, victims, suspects, and witnesses, each presenting different milestones in Pia and Bodenstein's investigation.
The dynamic flow of the story, with its endless hypotheses and possibilities freely and cheerfully raised and discussed in the brainstorming sessions of Class 11, and the subsequent experimentation, rejection, and selection of truths, as well as the revelation of yet another truth beneath the truth, keeps the reader engaged until the last page of this novel is turned.
The profound literary aftertaste that prompts us to reflect on our lives together is also an indispensable gift of "Eternal Friendship."

A murder between old friends, and the discovery of an unfinished novel manuscript.
The mysterious death pointed to another tragedy that occurred 35 years ago…
The secrets and lies hidden behind the name of friendship that have bound us together our entire lives!

Henning Kirchhoff, the ex-husband of detective Pia Sander and a coroner, recently published a crime novel based on the investigations of the Violent Crimes Unit 11, to which Pia belongs, and became a best-selling author overnight.
Just as he was about to print his second book, he urgently contacted Pia.
He said that his agent, Maria, had asked him to go to the house of his close editor friend, Heike, because she could not reach him.
Maria was worried about Heike's safety after he was fired from the Winterscheid publishing house where he had worked for over 30 years.
However, the editor is nowhere to be seen inside the house after breaking the lock, and only a dehydrated, demented old man is left alone on the second floor.
The agent is shocked by this strange sight.

“I just can’t understand why Heike never told any of us that he was taking care of his father.
We're friends, you know.
And since a very long time ago!” (Volume 1, p. 64)

When the police finally discover signs of murder in the kitchen, they soon realize that there are quite a few people who might have wanted editor Heike dead.
Heike was a brilliant editor who knew how to recognize works, a bestseller maker, and a literary star who often appeared on literary broadcasts and in various media, but he was hated by many writers for his sharp and provocative remarks.


“(…) Heike Bersi creates a ‘mass’ of murder motives for each broadcast,” he continued, looking at his notes.
“There is no hesitation in speaking, and the personal attacks are merciless.
For example, he has described crime writer Sven Klicek as "stupid" and "talentless," and called other books "unspeakably childish garbage," "foolish," "pathetic," or "disgusting," "torturous," and "insulting to the reader."
“I once said that if I had to choose between reading Jose Cuenño’s new book and getting fish poisoning, I would eat the rotten fish.” (Volume 1, p. 126)

In particular, she recently caused a sensation in the literary world by encouraging the bestselling author, Jeverin, whom she had discovered a long time ago, to plagiarize when he was unable to write his next work, and then personally exposing that the new book that came out that way was a plagiarized work.
He was also an arrogant and mean boss within the publishing house, and his conflicts with the new publisher led to his plan to poach writers and start his own publishing house. This was the reason he was summarily fired from a meeting and humiliated by having his room key handed over to his long-time friend and colleague, Alexander Roth, because the publisher found out about his plan.
In addition, there was a statement that he fought with his neighbors who were under construction and exchanged unspeakable curses as if it were nothing.
A witness has come forward to say that he saw Zeverin, who was branded a plagiarist, climb over the fence of Heike's house.
It is also revealed that Heike's successor, Alexander Rott, had visited Heike's house before the incident.


“Why did you go?” Sem asked.
“Oh… I was worried.
“I couldn’t reach you, so I just wanted to know how you were doing.” The planning manager was sweating even though the office was pleasantly cool.
(Volume 1, page 175)

While the number of suspects grows rather than narrowing down, Heike's body is discovered in the forest through a cell phone tracking investigation.
It was disguised as if he had slipped while Nordic walking, but it is clear that he did not die here.
Pia and Bodenstein find Belten writing like crazy.
He confesses that he got so worked up by Heike's swearing that he hit her over the head with his laptop.


“Did you expect us to be here?” Pia asked Belten.
“Hmm, because I killed Heike.
“Don’t the police always uncover such things?” he replied, surprisingly.
(Volume 1, page 245)

However, it is soon confirmed that Belten had only injured Heike, and that someone else had actually killed her and thrown her body into the forest.
Another suspect, Alexander Lott, was hospitalized in a coma after falling off his bicycle after giving his statement to police.
This accident caused all of the 'Eternal Friends' to gather at the hospital, except for the dead.
In front of Pia and Bodenstein, they each give their own statements, but unlike their name of 'eternal friends', they don't seem to have been very close and their words are a little different.
Especially about the incident at a summer resort 35 years ago that was the root of their friendship and changed everyone's lives.


Meanwhile, Karl Winterscheidt, publisher of Winterscheidt Verlag, receives an anonymous parcel containing the manuscript for the novel "To Eternal Friendship" written by his mother, Katharina Winterscheidt, who committed suicide by jumping from a balcony 28 years ago when he was six.
The accompanying photo shows six young people, including Alexander, Heike and Maria, bound 'by eternal friendship'.
He hands this manuscript over to his trusted editor, Julia.
How does this novel connect to "Eternal Friends"? It's unclear whether it will provide clues to the recent murders surrounding his publishing house, but Pia and Bodenstein, still far removed from the manuscript, encounter fragments of Katharina's diary through another route.
And I sense that those pieces of writing are slowly shaking up the lives of my 'eternal friends'...


As she read, Julia increasingly found parallels with reality, and was fascinated, shocked, and moved by the autobiographical nature of Katharina Winterscheidt's novel.
She no longer wondered where this manuscript had suddenly appeared, or why someone had anonymously sent it to the author's son 28 years after it was written.
I just wanted to know how the story unfolded and how it ended.
Truly, this was the highest compliment one could give to a manuscript.
(Volume 1, pp. 279-280)

★★★★★ "A captivating work!" _[Neuewelt]

★★★★★ “This is definitely the epitome of crime fiction.
It's versatile, deep, surprising and original.
A novel that reaffirms Nele Neuhaus's literary and suspenseful description of the crime scene.
“It’s perfect.” _[Literaturbühne]

★★★★★ “Nele Neuhaus is an extraordinary observer and a writer with a remarkable sense of character.” _[Fuldaerzeitung]

★★★★★ “『Eternal Friendship』 is the best Taunus series.
“This series begins and concludes everything.” _[Hamburg Abendblatt]

★★★★★ “Her success is legendary.
“I self-published my first book in 2005 and it has now become a bestseller in over 30 countries around the world.” _[Bild der Frau]