So, what is “Murder Mindfully” about? The book presents you with a recognizable setting: a lawyer, Björn Diemel, faces the challenges that come as a price tag associated with his success at work (at least, the monetary aspect of it). His marriage is crumbling under the weight of his obligations. He fails to make time for his daughter. Burnout seems inevitable as he speeds along the career fast lane. In a desperate attempt to appease the monster that the situation awakens in his once-upon-a-time sweetheart (aka awfully wedded wife), he goes to a coach to achieve more inner peace through mindfulness. And what a wonder! It works! Even if (or, perhaps, especially as) his path to inner peace goes over dead bodies and takes the main protagonist on some bloody hilarious murderous route – but all that very mindfully, of course. The book stands up to its title!

“Murder Mindfully” makes an exquisite and captivating read. (An insider tip for those going to indulge themselves in German: the audiobook is absolutely gorgeous.) Moreover, there are quite a few insights I’d like to highlight.

“Murder Mindfully” manages to shed a refreshingly new perspective on mindfulness. The author, Karsten Dusse, found a way to introduce all the load-bearing concepts of mindfulness. At the same time, they are presented with a twinkle of an eye in a mix of a humorous and even somewhat disturbing context. This automatically attracts your attention and makes you want to think about it, instead of reaching for a gun because only your iron hasn’t been talking to you about mindfulness in recent years. (And if your iron has, maybe the time has come to seek professional help – for you and your iron.) Thus, one of Björn’s main mantras becomes, “When you stand in front of a door and wait, then you stand in front of a door and wait. When you argue with your wife, then you argue with your wife. That is mindfulness.”

The book convincingly shows that mindfulness supports all kinds of endeavors – from neutral tasks like waiting patiently for someone to open a door to more dubious activities like, well, killing people. (Of course, this is purely fictional and should not be tried at home!). The key message is that mindfulness is a tool. Like any tool, it’s only as effective as your ability to use it well. Hence, if you’ve tried it but it hasn’t been quite the game-changer as for Björn, you might want to revisit it and bulk up your mindfulness muscle. It might work wonders, and hopefully, no one will have to suffer.

“Murder Mindfully” makes a great present – for your loved ones and for yourself. With the holiday season mercilessly approaching, many of us are struggling with the phenomenon of X-Mas stress. We’re trying to have a perfect family gathering. Ideally, this involves Santa Claus riding through your window on a set of unicorns, carrying chocolate that helps you lose weight and is good for your teeth. With so many boxes to check and boxes to pack, it is difficult not to get sucked into this holiday vortex of “must,” “duty,” “so little time left.” This is exactly the kind of situation where mindfulness and humor could help, and so the book comes in very handy. Whereas my much better half and I have been opting for escaping it altogether and leaving Europe during this time of the year, I am very mindful (pun intended) that this option is not available for everyone. This book offers a qualitatively different way of dealing with the stress by finding a better approach to the challenges of the season. Thus, the X-Mas edition of the mantra can be, “When you are looking for presents, you are looking for presents. When you are packing presents, you are packing presents. When you are spending time with your loved ones, you are spending time with your loved ones.”

To sum up, “Murder Mindfully” offers a great mix of food for thought and entertainment, especially if you happen to find the light in the dark shadows of black humor and don’t scare easily if a writer throws a bucket of blood at you (metaphorically). After reading 'Murder Mindfully,' George Michael's Christmas classic 'Last Christmas' will take on an entirely new meaning for you and might even bring a macabre smile to your face.