Son of bestselling author Alexandra Fröhlich arrested on suspicion of murder
German police have arrested the son of bestselling novelist Alexandra Fröhlich on suspicion of murder, after she was found dead on her houseboat in Hamburg.
The 22-year-old is accused of fatally beating his mother during the night of April 22.
He was arrested without resistance in Hamburg, police confirmed.
He is now in custody on suspicion of murder — a legal step in Germany that comes before any formal charges are laid.
The body of the 58-year-old author of Skeletons in the closet was found on her houseboat on the river Elbe in the Moorfleet district.
'As the cause of death was unclear and outside influence could not be ruled out, officers from the homicide squad took over the investigation at the scene in close coordination with the public prosecutor's office,' Hamburg Police said.
Examination of the scene and evidence has led police to assume that 'the woman died as a result of blunt force trauma'.
The mother of three was found by one of her three sons at around 5.20am.
According to the German news outlet BILD, it is now believed that this son is the main suspect.
Fröhlich had moved into the 90-square-metre houseboat with her children just six months earlier.
The distinct pink boat, with its large black porthole windows, was considered a peaceful retreat by the author.
Fröhlich was a freelance magazine editor, as well as a bestseller novelist.
She started her career as a journalist, founding a women's magazine in Kyiv, according to German publisher Knaur, which published her first novel.
According to book publisher Penguin, her novels My Russian mother-in-law and other catastrophes, There's always someone dying, Death is a certainty, and Skeletons in the closet were Spiegel bestsellers.
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