Declining Work Performance and Overly Assertive Communication as Warning Signs of Possible Competitive Activity

Time and again, the detectives of Kurtz Detective Agency Kiel and Schleswig-Holstein have witnessed fierce rivalry between competitors; even within the detective industry itself, unfair methods against disliked competitors are commonplace. The driving school sector is no exception. For months, the problems between our client Mr Reinbek and one of his employees, the driving instructor Mr Heide, had been increasing and escalating further. Sporadic and mostly very short-notice absences, a brusque manner and an openly displayed lack of motivation had characterised Mr Heide’s work performance since the beginning of the disputes between employer and employee. Ultimately, the differences culminated in a verbal resignation of the employment relationship by the employee.

 

At that point, the client of our corporate investigators in Kiel had long suspected that the numerous periods of free time Mr Heide had taken in recent months were being used to work for a competing driving school. As the instructor left the company around fourteen days before the official end of his employment, using up his accumulated overtime and remaining holiday entitlement, our client Mr Reinbek saw a good opportunity to have his suspicions reviewed by our private investigators from Schleswig-Holstein.

Irregularities in the Electronic Logbook

Mr Reinbek had a very specific “accomplice” in mind regarding his suspicions: another driving school company from the same town could be the secondary – and likely future primary – employer of the target individual. The company was run by a mutual acquaintance; naturally, people in the industry know one another. When our detectives from Kiel conducted a telephone briefing with Mr Reinbek on the morning of the first day of surveillance, the electronic logbook had already revealed that the target individual, Mr Heide, had undertaken an extended circular drive in the local area during the previous night using his employer’s training vehicle. It could not have involved one of our client’s learner drivers, and the vehicle was not authorised for private use.

 

Initially, the surveillance team checked the target individual’s residential address, a large farmhouse, and in parallel the two business premises of the suspected secondary employer. For cost reasons, only two of our private investigators from Kiel were authorised for this case – a challenge given the three relevant addresses. As no inconspicuous surveillance position could be found at the residential address that would have ensured visibility of the premises, discretion and rapid departure options at the same time, operational management decided to concentrate the surveillance on the two addresses of the alleged secondary employer. At the start of surveillance, our client’s training vehicle in question was parked at the target individual’s farmhouse. Although there was lively activity at both observed company addresses on the first day (learner drivers and instructors appeared regularly), the target individual Mr Heide did not make an appearance.

Luck Favours the Prepared: Target Individual Spotted in Competitor’s Vehicle

The following morning: when the investigators from our corporate detective agency in Kiel arrived at Mr Heide’s farmhouse, our client’s training vehicle was present, but his private car was nowhere to be seen. This initially indicated that the start of surveillance had been scheduled too late and that our client would have to accept budgeting additional hours for the following day to allow for an earlier start. Over the course of the day, the corporate investigators repeatedly alternated between checking the three relevant addresses, but without sighting the target individual. Surveillance operations in which the target cannot be located are generally frustrating for both client and detective – as an observer, one does not feel able to act in a truly targeted manner. To counteract this, the investigators questioned Mr Reinbek in the hope of identifying alternative leads. This revealed an address where, according to the logbook, the target individual had spent extended periods on several occasions with the training vehicle. Mr Reinbek suspected that Mr Heide and his presumed secondary employer were planning to establish a new joint driving school there – sufficient reason for our corporate investigators from Kiel to verify the address.

 

Although the on-site check of the address revealed no irregularities (neither target individuals nor vehicles were present), sometimes fortune favours the diligent: on the return journey from the address check to the known company premises, one of the two detectives noticed three training vehicles belonging to the suspected new employer of the target individual. One of them matched, by registration number, a vehicle that Mr Reinbek had previously identified as a possible training vehicle used by the target at the new driving school (Mr Heide had been recognised in it weeks earlier by a colleague). Two persons were in the vehicle – apparently a learner driver and an instructor. Unfortunately, the passenger, the presumed instructor, was sitting low in his seat and wearing a face covering, making identification difficult. After prolonged following, our private investigator from Kiel managed to position himself alongside the vehicle at traffic lights – and indeed: the passenger was the target individual Mr Heide, who was evidently conducting a driving lesson for a direct competitor of his employer, as suspected.

Court-Admissible Documentation of Presence at Competitor’s Premises

Conducting discreet surveillance of a learner driver sounds easier than it is. Anyone consistently driving well below the permitted speed limit stands out in German traffic. And anyone who refrains from overtaking such a “slow mover” stands out even more. In addition to the low speed, there were driving exercises, circular routing and the fact that the second observer was too far away to provide immediate support. Fortunately, the pursuing investigator did not have to maintain the delicate balance between proximity to the target vehicle and discretion for long before the learner driver was dropped off in a residential area and Mr Heide continued alone. Upon returning from the residential area, he was no longer wearing a mask, enabling our Kiel detective to capture a snapshot of the target individual at the wheel of the competitor’s vehicle. Shortly afterwards, Mr Heide drove into a small side road surrounded by fields; in the interest of discretion, the observer had to let the vehicle go. The subsequent search by both deployed investigators was unsuccessful, but the documentation of the driving lesson for the competitor already represented significant progress.

 

To avoid again arriving at the residential address only after the target had departed, surveillance on the following day was brought forward by two and a half hours – a wise decision, as Mr Heide indeed left his residence early in the morning in the known training vehicle of the competitor, which had been parked overnight at his farmhouse. Due to the unfavourable traffic situation mentioned above and the limited personnel assigned to this case, direct pursuit was unsuccessful. However, the second observer from Kurtz Detective Agency Schleswig-Holstein had positioned himself at one of the competitor’s company addresses and was able to resume surveillance upon the target’s arrival. He documented another driving lesson conducted by Mr Heide with a learner before again having to let the vehicle go in order to preserve discretion. Subsequent operations followed a similar pattern: alternating between the relevant addresses and the TÜV testing centre, where learner drivers repeatedly appeared with instructors from the relevant driving school to take their examinations, and between documenting driving lessons and losing visual contact in the interest of discretion. In the meantime, the target individual was also documented spending time inside one of the two business premises of the new employer.

Summary of Documented Activities Leaves No Questions Unanswered

In total, our detective agency from Kiel was ultimately able to prove driving lessons conducted by the target individual for the client’s competitor on five separate days. Only proof of misuse of Mr Reinbek’s driving school vehicle could not be established. On the basis of this evidence, our client was able to assert substantial claims against his contract-breaching employee, foremost a considerable contractual penalty for the explicitly prohibited activity for a competitor. Such cases are by no means limited to the driving school sector; however, for the team at Kurtz Detective Agency Kiel and Schleswig-Holstein, this assignment represented a welcome change and a nostalgic reminder of their own driving school days.

Note

To preserve discretion and the personal rights of clients and target individuals, all names and locations in this case report have been altered beyond recognition.

Kurtz Detective Agency Kiel and Schleswig-Holstein

Hopfenstraße 1d

D-24114 Kiel

Tel.: +49 431 3057 0053

E-Mail: kontakt@kurtz-detektei-kiel.de

Web: https://www.kurtz-detektei-kiel.de/en

Google: https://g.page/kurtz-detektei-kiel

The cases of Sherlock Holmes make many hearts beat faster, and detective series are popular on television. But what does the everyday work of a detective really look like? Private investigator and owner of Kurtz Investigations Kiel and Schleswig-Holstein, Patrick Kurtz, gives an extensive insight into his daily routine.

 

Patrick Kurtz is a private detective, criminologist, author, and owner of Kurtz Investigations Kiel and Schleswig-Holstein. In the service provider ranking of the Wirtschaftswoche, the Kurtz Detective Agency was even named the third-best investigative service in Germany. In addition to his detective agency in Schleswig-Holstein, Kurtz also operates agencies in the other 15 federal states. The IHK-certified detective investigates cases for private individuals and companies in a wide variety of matters: from monitoring suspicious employees to checking the fidelity of spouses, he uncovers the truth — even when it becomes uncomfortable.

On Subtle Surveillance

Josephine Andreoli, Lübecker Nachrichten: “Beige trench coat with the collar turned up, cap pulled low over the face, pipe in the corner of the mouth — is that what a detective’s workday looks like, Mr Kurtz?”

 

Patrick Kurtz: “Someone wanting to observe unobtrusively probably wouldn’t wear a beige trench coat. However, I have a checkered trench coat, which is probably not exactly inconspicuous either, but looks quite detective-like. We also no longer hide behind newspapers during surveillance. That may have been necessary in the past — to conceal cameras.”

 

Josephine Andreoli: “How does one conduct surveillance in an especially inconspicuous way?”

 

Patrick Kurtz: “Trying to be particularly inconspicuous usually makes you quite noticeable. You blend in by behaving like those around you, by integrating into your surroundings. If you are observing someone in a restaurant, it is much less conspicuous if a partner is with you, because it is unusual for someone to dine alone. And of course, I should also select my technical tools to be unobtrusive, which is fairly easy today. Everyone has a smartphone and can take photos discreetly. I even have watches with a lens the size of a buttonhole — I press it and can record videos and take photos. Cameras are now so small they can be hidden anywhere.”

Often Matters of Infidelity

Josephine Andreoli: “And do people really come to you to find out whether their wife or husband is cheating?”

 

Patrick Kurtz: “Yes, with private clients, it is quite stereotypically often about infidelity in the relationship. We refer to this as fidelity investigation. That is the case we handle most frequently in our agency.”

 

Josephine Andreoli: “Why don’t people just follow their partner themselves?”

 

Patrick Kurtz: “I consider observing your own partner to be rather unwise if you want to be unobtrusive. For one, the partner knows your face, and for another, the average person is not trained in surveillance tactics. It has happened repeatedly that clients have told us they already tried to follow their partner but got caught. That then complicates our work. The target person is already alert, looks around more often, and scans their environment.”

Josephine Andreoli: “But who expects to be watched by a detective?”

 

Patrick Kurtz: “There are certainly people who do. There are enough individuals who have something to hide and are aware of it. And they are careful. People committing sick leave fraud, for example, are especially alert. They know exactly that they are violating their employment contract and that the employer would be entitled to dismiss them without notice.”

Most Assignments Come from Private Individuals

Josephine Andreoli: “So companies also hire you. How is the ratio of assignments from private individuals versus companies at your agency?”

 

Patrick Kurtz: “We definitely get more assignments from private individuals. I estimate the ratio is about 65 to 35 percent. But revenues are naturally more strongly influenced by corporate clients.”

 

Josephine Andreoli: “Does a detective get rich?”

 

Patrick Kurtz: “As in most industries, there are extremes at both ends, but most investigators today earn rather little because the volume of assignments has declined. Twenty to thirty years ago, it was much more likely to build wealth as a detective.”

95 Percent of Work Is Surveillance

Josephine Andreoli: “What constitutes the main part of your work?”

 

Patrick Kurtz: “When you are active in the field, surveillance makes up 95 percent of the time. However, surveillance itself occurs in very different ways. Some is on foot, but most is conducted in vehicles. You need a lot of patience — there is a lot of waiting. Sometimes you sit in a car for 16, 17 hours straight and nothing happens. You still have to remain focused and fixate on a specific point, like a door.”

 

Josephine Andreoli: “And what if you need to go to the toilet?”

 

Patrick Kurtz: “With two people it’s usually not a problem — one can step away briefly. Alone, I wouldn’t recommend it. Drinking from a Punica bottle is our standard method.”

Heavy Metal Against Fatigue

Josephine Andreoli: “What do you do when you get tired?”

 

Patrick Kurtz: “I listen to heavy metal! I usually follow the drummer’s double pedal with my feet, and that automatically wakes me up. I often also listen to audiobooks, previously a lot of Sherlock Holmes, but I now know them inside out.”

 

Josephine Andreoli: “Is your work as exciting as Sherlock Holmes and Thomas Magnum make it look?”

 

Patrick Kurtz: “It is usually not as thrilling as films and novels suggest. Cases rarely unfold spectacularly one after another; they often repeat. But the work is exciting nevertheless.”

Legal Foundation Is Key

Josephine Andreoli: “What qualities must a detective have?”

 

Patrick Kurtz: “Expertise. Legal foundations are absolutely essential — you must know them, otherwise you put yourself and your clients in trouble. In addition, persistence, patience, concentration, and physical fitness are needed. You sometimes have to overcome obstacles or close a growing distance to the target. For an overweight investigator, that can quickly become difficult. Creativity is also a core skill — you have to shift perspectives and think differently to solve difficult cases.”

 

Josephine Andreoli: “How does one become a detective? Is there a detective school?”

 

Patrick Kurtz: “Normally, you have a prior career in a law enforcement agency. That can range from criminal police, BND, customs, or even the Stasi. But in principle, anyone in Germany can become a detective — which is the problem: there are no licensing requirements. The only requirement is a clean criminal record. Considering data protection and personal rights, this is a significant political shortcoming.”

Reading Sherlock Holmes at 13

Josephine Andreoli: “So you worked in a law enforcement agency before founding your agency?”

 

Patrick Kurtz: “No, I actually stumbled into it — although I had passionately read Sherlock Holmes stories since the age of 13 and had even started smoking a pipe. Between my bachelor’s and master’s studies in European Literature, I had a year to pursue further education. Ultimately, I completed a six-month training at the Security Academy Berlin and received the IHK certificate as a detective professional.”

 

Josephine Andreoli: “How important is such a certificate to clients?”

 

Patrick Kurtz: “Clients occasionally ask about the IHK certificate, and some even tell me they chose Kurtz Detective Agency because of my certification. But it doesn’t necessarily have to be this particular training path. What matters is that an investigator has completed basic training qualifying them for the profession.

 

I have been practising this profession since 2013, and there are always cases that are unlike anything I have encountered before. That makes this job incredibly exciting. It’s amusing, but it so happens that I am now a pipe-smoking detective — probably the only one in all of Germany.”

 

Josephine Andreoli: “Thank you very much for the interview, Mr Kurtz!”

Note

The original article by Josephine Andreoli appeared in the Lübecker Nachrichten. Bold text and hyperlinks on this page may differ from the original.

 

Simultaneously, the Lübecker Nachrichten, in cooperation with Raoul Oliver Classen, President of the Bundesverband Deutscher Detektive (BDD), published another article on the detective profession, also by Josephine Andreoli:

https://www.ln-online.de/Nachrichten/Norddeutschland/Der-moderne-Sherlock-Holmes-Was-macht-einen-guten-Detektiv-aus.

Kurtz Detective Agency Kiel and Schleswig-Holstein

Hopfenstraße 1d

D-24114 Kiel

Tel.: +49 431 3057 0053

E-Mail: kontakt@kurtz-detektei-kiel.de

Web: https://www.kurtz-detektei-kiel.de/en

Google: https://g.page/kurtz-detektei-kiel

“How often do you break the law? What was the hottest sex you have ever observed? How can I cheat without my partner noticing?” – these and other questions were put to Patrick Kurtz, owner of Kurtz Detective Agency Kiel and Schleswig-Holstein, by Lea Albring of VICE Magazine in the casually provocative category “10 Questions for a Private Detective You Would Never Dare to Ask”. A transcript of the article can be found below; the original is available here.

The Profession of a Private Detective

You want to call yourself a private detective? Then do so. You do not need to work in one of the 1,200 detective agencies in Germany to use the title. There is no state-recognised training programme for detectives in Germany, and the term itself is not protected. “That is why there are, of course, also botchers in the industry,” says Patrick Kurtz. His investigators, he assures us, are all professionals.

 

As he says this, he puffs on a pipe – a habit he did not only take up after becoming a detective, as he explains: “I have been a passionate pipe smoker since I was 14.” We do not wish to question this statement, although we would probably not notice if he were lying. After all, invented stories, false pretences and fake identities are part of his everyday professional life. Between his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Literature, he had a year to bridge. In a newspaper he found an advertisement promising €1,700 per month as an intern in a private detective agency. “That was when I realised: you can earn money in this industry.” The advertisement turned out to be fake – Patrick’s instinct did not. “As a good detective, you can earn €3,000 net,” he says.

Fields of Activity for Detectives in Germany

Private individuals hire him mainly for four reasons: “Maintenance claims, custody violations, infidelity, address investigations.” Companies usually engage him because they want to know whether field staff are billing their hours correctly or whether employees are pulling sickies. However, since 2015 employers have no longer been permitted to hire him arbitrarily, as ruled by the Federal Labour Court. In order to deploy a private detective against employees, bosses require concrete indications. In around 75 per cent of cases, however, their suspicions prove correct, says Patrick: in three out of four private cases, too, the initial suspicion is confirmed.

 

He says he rarely feels sympathy for the people he observes. Only once, when he was supposed to check whether an employee was falsifying his hours, did he notice “that the problem lay more with the employer, because he treated his staff badly. But even in such a case I must remain professional; legally speaking, it was clear that the employee had made a mistake.” Normally it is his job to gather information – now he is expected to provide some. We have questions.

VICE: Are you a stalker?

Patrick Kurtz: “There are parallels – we too observe people in their personal sphere. However, a stalker does so in an intrusive way. Detectives have boundaries when conducting surveillance. If we witness very intimate matters, then only because they take place outside the front door. If a man accused of infidelity has sex at a motorway service station, then it is our job to observe it. The aim is to clarify a criminal offence or personal problems. A stalker is driven by obsession. In one case, my agency was actually hired by a female stalker. In order for us to spy professionally on her victim, she had credibly constructed an infidelity scenario. This was uncovered at the very beginning of our investigation, and we informed the person concerned.”

What was the hottest sex you have ever observed?

“We do not watch everything up close like on a porn set; there are limits when observing sexual acts. I do remember one particularly brazen case: it involved a field sales representative. His employer suspected that he was not working properly. This was in the Hanover area; we observed him for five days. On the first days he drove around aimlessly, customer appointments were very brief, and he spent large parts of his supposed working hours at home. He parked his car a few streets away so no one would notice. On the final day he picked up a young man. The two drove onto a field track and had sex in the car for around two hours. The signs: steamed-up windows, the car rocking, and often unmistakable noises.”

Have you ever observed a woman and fallen in love with her?

“No, that has not happened to me, and I would rule it out. I do know of two colleagues who became involved with people connected to investigations afterwards – though these were clients, not target persons. One was an affair that began some time after an infidelity investigation – the colleague then knew the woman no longer had a partner. In the other case a relationship developed that continues to this day: a woman working for the city who had been repeatedly threatened felt she was being bugged; it was a counter-surveillance operation. Her suspicion was not confirmed, but the assignment still paid off for her, because she and the colleague became a couple shortly afterwards.”

How many things do you discover that you absolutely were not meant to discover?

“One thing happens from time to time: women who have been cheated on learn that their husband is cheating with other men. Out of 100 infidelity investigations involving men, in around two we discover that a concealed bi- or homosexual inclination lies behind it. I have not yet encountered secret lesbian relationships. I believe men are often embarrassed about their sexual orientation; moreover, their existing life – wife, children, sometimes even grandchildren – is at stake. That is why they conceal it. A classic double life with two families, however, we have not yet had. We did have a case of a very wealthy man who, alongside his wife, maintained several women simultaneously, each of whom he financed with a flat and supported financially.”

What do you really do when you sit in a car for hours and nothing happens?

“Every case is different. An infidelity surveillance can be boring, as it often consists almost entirely of waiting outside a house. It is exhausting to watch a driveway for many hours when nothing happens. I listen to music and audiobooks. If I become tired, I put on hard rock such as Soundgarden or sometimes Metallica – that keeps me awake. Otherwise I listen to all kinds of audiobooks, a lot of Edgar Allan Poe and indeed also Sherlock Holmes stories.

 

Around 70 per cent of surveillance work is waiting time, 30 per cent more or less action. Even when following a target person you must remain highly concentrated. A pleasant working day for me is one on which a lot happens.”

How do I follow someone without them noticing?

“My investigators and I have standard tricks to conceal that we are detectives. If neighbours become aware of us, we must invent stories – so-called legends. You can, for example, say that your wife has thrown you out of the flat. If I have a blanket and a thermos flask with me and ruffle my hair, residents will believe the story. Being exposed happens to us virtually never. It has only happened to me once. The reason was extremely poor surveillance conditions: in a very rural area where everyone knows everyone, we were to check whether an employee was malingering. A colleague and I parked our cars far apart, about 700 metres from the property. The unfamiliar vehicles were probably noticed by a passing farmer, who must then have informed the target person. That person appeared at my car and said we could end our observation. Nevertheless, we later successfully proved his misconduct. In principle, if we suspect that the target may have noticed something, we immediately change our strategy.”

How often do you break the law with your investigative methods?

“The problem is that we often operate in a grey area. Laws for the detective industry are often not clearly defined; sometimes they simply do not exist. Only court rulings clarify what is permissible and what is not. GPS trackers are now considered illegal; information in exchange for money not necessarily so. But that too is a grey area: is it legal to offer a waiter money to tell you whether person X dined there with another person at a certain time? In my agency we refrain from such practices as a precaution and instead work with constructed legends: investigators pose as relatives or business partners, for example. Of course that is a lie – but not a criminal offence.”

Are detectives failed police officers?

“I employ many investigators who were formerly police officers. Very few were dishonourably discharged. Many are retirees who wish to earn something on the side. Or police officers who saw no prospects of promotion or had problems with their superior – things like that. Once, however, I was unlucky: a retired senior police officer took on an assignment for my agency. Because I had a very good relationship with the client, it emerged that he had falsified surveillance reports. He was supposed to infiltrate a company and uncover bullying. Upon enquiry it turned out that he had worked there for only one day, for four hours, and then reported sick. Yet his invoice and report listed five days of eight hours each. I reported him for fraud and sued for damages.”

How can I cheat without my partner noticing?

“Best done without written flirting or chats, but through verbal arrangements. If a partner suddenly no longer leaves their phone lying openly, that is an indication. And for meetings: never in public places. Otherwise one should not change behaviour conspicuously – for example suddenly taking up sport or going to the hairdresser more often. These are all indications that clients describe to us when we are to check their partners.”

If I want to disappear, how should I go about it?

“As an EU citizen, you should ideally remain within Europe to avoid leaving traces at border crossings. It is best to choose a country to which you have no traceable connection. Under no circumstances should you travel by plane or train; passenger data and cameras leave traces. By car you can disappear effectively. The key is to be uncompromising. Many initially succeed in disappearing but do not wish to forgo the comfort of their old life. They continue using old credit cards and rent a new flat under their real name. Anyone who does not wish to be found must renounce convenience and needs a completely new identity with forged documents. Very few do that. That is why only 15 per cent of our missing-person searches are unsuccessful – and those few often for budgetary reasons.”

Note

The statements attributed to Patrick Kurtz are not verbatim quotations but paraphrased – in some cases meaning-altering – formulations.

Kurtz Detective Agency Kiel and Schleswig-Holstein

Hopfenstraße 1d

D-24114 Kiel

Tel.: +49 431 3057 0053

E-Mail: kontakt@kurtz-detektei-kiel.de

Web: https://www.kurtz-detektei-kiel.de/en

Google: https://g.page/kurtz-detektei-kiel

A Victorian in the 21st Century

Sherlock Holmes apparently remains as popular as ever – and not only among the investigators of our detective agency in Kiel. The master detective is currently appearing on cinema screens and television sets more frequently than he has in years. High-budget blockbusters by director Guy Ritchie starring Robert Downey Jr., as well as television series such as Sherlock from the BBC and Elementary from CBS, have generated millions – at the box office, through advertising, and in merchandising. In our new series “Sherlock Holmes on Film”, we will take a closer look at all three adaptations.

 

Holmes is such an iconic figure that one easily loses track of the countless stories written and filmed over the decades in which he appears either as protagonist or supporting character. Depending on the genre, he encounters real historical figures of his time or “colleagues” from Victorian literature. The imagination of authors seems limitless: real criminal cases such as those of Jack the Ripper, as well as scenarios involving characters created by writers like H. G. Wells (The War of the Worlds) or Bram Stoker (Dracula), serve as the backdrop for more or less original tales. Holmes is so closely associated with the Victorian era that it is often overlooked how many of the original Sherlock Holmes stories by his creator Arthur Conan Doyle were written after the end of that period. When Queen Victoria died in 1901, Doyle himself seemed to have grown tired of his hero: eight years earlier, he had already allowed Holmes to die in the short story The Final Problem. Yet the majority of the stories – two of the four novels and three of the five short story collections – were still to come.

Mr. Holmes: A Humorous Deconstruction of Sherlock Clichés

The fact that a significant portion of the fictional detective’s life would have taken place after the Victorian era is also central to the most recent cinematic interpretation. We approach the topic in reverse chronological order: in Mr. Holmes, directed by Bill Condon and based on A Slight Trick of the Mind by Mitch Cullin, Sherlock Holmes is the survivor of a long-vanished epoch. Watson, Mrs. Hudson, his brother Mycroft – all have long since passed away. Holmes himself retired to the countryside more than 30 years earlier and now keeps bees – a motif found in several Holmes pastiches, including those by Henry Fitzgerald Heard.

 

One particularly charming device in the film is its playful handling of the Sherlock Holmes cliché. In Mr. Holmes, Holmes is indeed a famous real person – but the public perception of him stems entirely from the writings of the equally real John Watson, not from Doyle. The deerstalker hat and cape? Holmes claims he never wore them. The pipe? He preferred cigars. Even the address was fictional: Holmes amused himself in London by watching curious onlookers – “American tourists,” as he dryly remarks – gather at 221B Baker Street from the window of his actual apartment across the street. In a delightful scene set in the 1940s, Holmes watches a fictionalised film version of one of his cases in the cinema, featuring a “classic” Holmes complete with deerstalker, cape, and pipe – a wink to the successful film series starring Basil Rathbone, which we will of course also discuss in this series.

Humanising a Superhuman Mind

The framing story of Mr. Holmes takes place in 1947. Holmes thus becomes a witness to the dawn of the atomic age – a theme subtly referenced in several scenes. Frail and plagued by senility, he attempts to reconstruct the events of his final case 35 years earlier, the case that led him to abandon detective work and London life altogether. Yet what makes the film truly original is the absence of what traditionally defines Sherlock Holmes stories: a central criminal mystery. Who is the murderer? What was the motive? These questions are secondary. The greatest detective of all faces one final and deeply personal riddle: Who is Sherlock Holmes when he loses the very faculty that defines him?

 

In a moving reflection, Holmes admits that he has been alone all his life, but that his intellect always compensated for this solitude – and now, in old age, that intellect is slipping away. What happens to a man whose entire identity rests upon razor-sharp reasoning when that very sharpness begins to fade? Holmes becomes vulnerable, plagued by doubt, no longer a calculating machine but a fragile human being. For perhaps the first time, his heart is touched – not least through the inquisitive son of his housekeeper – and this emotional awakening unsettles him profoundly. The mystery of the film is not a crime, but Holmes himself. Audiences have long known him as brilliant yet distant, almost cold – or, as Benedict Cumberbatch memorably phrased it in Sherlock, a “high-functioning sociopath.” Intimacy has rarely played a role in Holmes adaptations. That is precisely what makes Mr. Holmes so refreshing. Ian McKellen, himself an icon accustomed to portraying iconic roles, delivers a superb performance as a stumbling, ageing Holmes haunted by the ghosts of his past. Told across three interwoven timelines, the film adds new and endearing facets to the character.

New Realism, Unexpected Humanity

Is the film worth watching? Viewers expecting action in the style of Guy Ritchie or gripping criminal suspense may be disappointed. However, those open to a quieter, character-driven narrative should not miss Mr. Holmes – especially fans of Sherlock Holmes. Just as the everyday work of private detectives in Kiel is not solely defined by thrilling cases but by real people and ordinary fates, it is refreshing to encounter a film that avoids clichéd murder plots and instead delves deeply into the psychology of its characters, presenting even the greatest of all fictional detectives as profoundly human.

Author: Gerrit Koehler

 

Kurtz Detective Agency Kiel and Schleswig-Holstein

Hopfenstraße 1d

D-24114 Kiel

Tel.: +49 431 3057 0053

E-Mail: kontakt@kurtz-detektei-kiel.de

Web: https://www.kurtz-detektei-kiel.de/en

Google: https://g.page/kurtz-detektei-kiel

Goods Embezzled Worth Six Figures

The client of Kurtz Investigations Kiel and Schleswig-Holstein, a sales company near Solingen, had delivered goods worth almost €400,000 to a German businessman residing in Hamburg. This gentleman owns or operates several companies, including some in Denmark. To this day, our client is still awaiting payment of the purchase price. As there were rumours that the recipient company was on the verge of bankruptcy, our Danish detectives were tasked with determining the whereabouts of the unpaid goods. The main focus was a company located in Padborg, immediately on the border with Flensburg.

Interview at the Target Company | Warehouse Inspection

Following preliminary research via the internet and telephone, which indicated a lorry with a trailer connected to the collection of the missing goods, our lead detective from Kiel travelled to the target company in Padborg, Denmark, to gain a first impression. At first glance, there was not much activity, although both the lorry and the trailer were present on site. A Rottweiler guarded the relatively deserted premises. Our corporate detective from Kiel recognised that acting alone would not be safe and therefore requested a second investigator from our client.

 

The following morning, Kurtz Investigations Kiel and Schleswig-Holstein began surveillance of the company premises in Padborg. By this time, the lorry was no longer present and was presumably collecting or delivering goods. Only a single male individual was visible on the entire site. Our private detective from Kiel, an expert in investigations related to the logistics sector, approached the man and conducted an interview. The man claimed to have no involvement with the company’s operations, acting solely as a driver – an implausible assertion given that he was the only person on the site. Together with this individual, our Danish corporate detective inspected the warehouse to check for the missing goods. As the items could not be found there, the employee stated that they had been stored for a few days before being moved to one of two possible other companies in Padborg, although he could not recall which one with certainty.

Allegedly Innocuous Target Companies

Subsequently, our detective in Denmark visited the two mentioned companies where the goods were allegedly taken. At the first company, an employee stated that he had no knowledge of the goods and that, given the small size of the local storage facility, no such items would be stored there. In addition, the company did not deal with this type of merchandise.

 

The second company, a supermarket chain, was located directly across the street. Here too, no one had ever heard of the missing goods. In neighbouring Harrislee, the detective from Schleswig-Holstein was advised to check the branch to see whether the missing goods were part of the range. This check proved negative: the products were neither on the shelves nor could the branch manager locate a past order using the EAN in the computer.

 

A later revisit to the companies’ warehouses confirmed the credibility of the assurances that no goods are handled without delivery notes and transport documents. Previously, the alleged transport driver of the originally suspicious company had claimed that he never received papers when delivering to these two companies.

Informant Demands Commission

After the uninformative visits to the two companies, the detective from Kurtz Investigations Schleswig-Holstein returned to the original target company. The tipster from the morning, who had claimed no involvement with the company, was sitting at a desk in the office. When questioned again about the case, he claimed there were no documents regarding the transaction, or if there were, they were with the shareholders in Copenhagen. Our detective from Kiel then applied more pressure in the interview – and the individual relented. He might be able to assist with the recovery and seizure of the goods. “Might” in this context implied a monetary reward for this “assistance,” with the demand set at €15,000.

 

Following consultation with our client near Solingen, the corporate detective from Kurtz Investigations Kiel negotiated with the informant the next day, reducing the payment to €9,000. The goods were located in Odense, Denmark, near a customs export point to Germany. It should be noted that the nature of the goods entitled the Danish authorities to impose a so-called luxury tax. This tax is refunded upon import into Germany. The informant assured our detective that he would call 4–5 hours before the goods were transported to Germany to enable seizure by the authorities.

Bureaucratic Fiasco in Germany

To ensure official seizure of the embezzled goods, our Kiel detective went to the police station in Harrislee. However, it was closed and referred him to the Federal Police in Flensburg. The Federal Police declined responsibility and directed the detective to the Criminal Investigation Department (Kripo) Flensburg. A senior police commissioner at Kripo Flensburg informed him that jurisdiction lay with the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Düsseldorf, as the case had been reported there. From Düsseldorf, official assistance in Flensburg would need to be requested using a file reference – which our client did not have. For these bureaucratic reasons, the German authorities were unable to assist when the informant informed our Kiel detective the next morning at 07:28 about the imminent export of the goods to Germany. By 09:30, the detective knew the shipment had returned to Germany and was now moving via unknown routes – the authorities had remained inactive.

 

On the return from Denmark, our corporate detective made a detour to Hamburg to the residential address of the managing director who owed payment for the goods and against whom a criminal complaint had been filed with the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Düsseldorf. The property is located directly on the Elbchaussee: a two-storey luxury villa with a convertible and a Land Rover belonging to his wife in the driveway. The number of additional vehicles on the property is unknown. Clearly, only the “poorest of the poor” reside here – people for whom the authorities apparently turn a blind eye to mid-six-figure fraud. Unfortunately, experiences like this are common in our work as private detectives. Seized evidence is sometimes mishandled or disappears entirely, complaints are disregarded, and legal loopholes are exploited to the detriment of victims.

No Documentation in the Interim Warehouse in Hamburg

The shock that an initial investigative success had yet yielded no positive result for our Danish client had to be absorbed. Therefore, the investigation resumed twelve days later. At this point, it was uncertain whether the goods could still be located or were even intact.

 

The first step after resuming investigations involved questioning an employee of the company where the goods had been temporarily stored in Hamburg prior to collection for Padborg. The employee contradicted himself and stated that there were no delivery notes, transport documents, or CMRs for the shipment. He justified this by claiming that foreign hauliers frequently did not understand how to load the goods, let alone what transport documents were. Such undocumented procedures are, of course, unlawful.

Suspicious Supply Routes Between Target Companies

Our detectives from Kiel returned to Padborg to question the informant regarding any new findings. On the way, they encountered the target company’s lorry and decided to follow it. The route appeared uncoordinated and seemed intended to uncover potential followers, as the lorry did not go directly to the two previously visited warehouses in Padborg but circled a roundabout, briefly used the motorway, entered an industrial estate, and then returned to Padborg to the mentioned companies – all without stopping for loading or unloading elsewhere. At the destination, the two corporate detectives identified the driver as the informant, who loaded approximately 15 pallets onto the lorry.

Cooperation from Danish Authorities

In the following days, the detectives surveilled the informant’s company premises in Padborg. Meanwhile, contact was made with Danish authorities, as cooperation with German authorities had proven unproductive. A meeting with a Danish customs officer quickly materialised, and unlike her German counterparts, she showed great interest in the case. All relevant departments – border police, tax office, and customs – are housed in one building, which facilitates fast communication. After a brief exchange, the tax investigation and customs authorities pledged full support, as our detectives had apparently uncovered carousel fraud schemes already under investigation. For record-keeping, Kurtz Investigations Kiel forwarded the contact details of the Danish investigators to the Criminal Police in Mettmann, North Rhine-Westphalia.

 

Further surveillance provided additional indications of suspected tax evasion/fraud in connection with the luxury tax. Among other observations, loads were transported from Padborg to Flensburg – both locations only a few kilometres apart but on opposite sides of the border. The logic behind this movement is unclear. Observations brought the two companies mentioned by the informant back into focus. As company No. 1 also operated a warehouse in Flensburg, the lead investigator visited it and questioned the warehouse manager about the missing goods. It became apparent that one of the statements was false: either the Padborg warehouse employee or the Flensburg warehouse employee was lying – with a clear motive for the Padborg employee.

Open Ending: Danish Authorities Take Over Investigations

In a subsequent meeting with the Danish tax authorities, our Schleswig-Holstein detectives were informed of what they had suspected from day one: several individuals at the warehouses were known to be violent. As further surveillance yielded no significant results, our client at Kurtz Investigations Kiel and Schleswig-Holstein decided to suspend private investigations and hope for intervention by the Danish authorities.

To preserve discretion and the privacy rights of clients and subjects, all names and locations in this case report have been completely altered.

 

Kurtz Detective Agency Kiel and Schleswig-Holstein

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