Overview

• Gercke died on July 25 in Hamburg at age 88, her family announced through Argument Verlag.
• After earning her Abitur at 40 and studying law, she published her first crime novel in 1988 to widespread acclaim.
• That debut, “Weinschröter, du musst hängen,” was adapted by ZDF into Bella Block, which Hannelore Hoger portrayed from 1994 until the series ended in 2018.
• She sold the television rights to her detective heroine but maintained creative influence and a lifelong friendship with Hoger.
• Under the pseudonym Marie-Jo Morell she wrote the Milena-Prohaska series and infused her broader work with her activism in women’s and peace movements.