The past is unforgettable in Bernhard Schlink’s novels. From the Nazi era to the revolutionaries of the 1960s-1970s, Schlink explores moral dilemmas in Germany’s past through his work. And while that is evident in his best-known book, The Reader, it is also true of the Self detective series with which he started his fiction career in 1987.

Gerhard Self, a Nazi prosecutor in Heidelberg, was barred from the judicial system in the aftermath of World War II. Now at 68, he is a wary yet successful private investigator in 1980s Heidelberg, where Madonna is singing, “He’s a pretender” on the radio and Diva is playing in theaters.

Self’s powerful and wealthy brother-in-law Korten, who helped him get his first case as a private investigator, calls on him again in the series’ debut novel, Self’s Punishment. he wants Self to track down a hacker who has invaded the computer systems of the Rhineland Chemical Works, where he is general director. Over the course of a few months, the culprit had “doubled the vacation benefits of the low-wage groups . . . deleted all salary account numbers beginning with a 13” and overbooked the tennis courts.

Perhaps it was the influence of Walter Popp, his collaborator on the debut mystery, but Schlink’s mysteries contain humorous touches unknown in his novels. Or perhaps it was their collaborative writing process; The two acted out the parts of the major characters. In their house in the south of France, one played the part of Self while the other typed and took on another role.

At some point in all of Schlink’s books, events from the past intrude into the present and raise questions of guilt and self-recrimination. Soon the humorous hacker is dead and Self back on the job, not because Korten engaged him but because he was compelled to absolve his own guilt.

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