Netflix normally likes to scream and shout about what it's adding, but Murder Mindfully, based on Karsten Dusse's bestselling book, has just slipped on the streamer.
The book was a major hit when it was published in Germany, with an English language version soon to be published, and now Netflix has turned it into an eight-part series, which sounds a little like Breaking Bad.
Tom Schilling stars as Björn Diemel a successful mafia lawyer who's struggling with his work-life balance. He knows he must change or risk losing his daughter and his marriage, so he starts a mindfulness class. But rather than find inner peace Björn discovers his inner murderer and slays his client and crime boss Dragan Sergowicz!
As Björn puts it in the book: "I didn't kill anyone until I was forty-two. That's actually a little on the late side for my current professional environment. Admittedly, I did kill almost half a dozen in the week that followed."
Netflix teases: "Despite the tense situation, Björn always manages to keep calm and completely reorganize his life. And the fact that a few murders are necessary along the way to solve his problems is just the natural consequence of his mindful life change."
In the bloody trailer, Björn is one minute seen meditating in the woods and the next chainsawing a victim! He says: "Mindfulness can break noses. And kill people."
Having previously watched another great German series, Kleo, I'm certainly excited by Murder Mindfully arriving on the streamer. If you’ve not seen Kleo, then we highly recommend it, it is a quirky cat-and-mouse Cold War thriller starring Jella Haase as former East German assassin Kleo Straub.
The Murder Mindfully book isn't available in English until January 2025. It's been translated into over 20 languages and the German edition has sold over 1.5 million copies. Also starring in the TV version are Emily Cox, Britta Hammelstein, Murathan Muslu, Peter Jordan, Pamuk Pilavci, Johannes Allmayer, Sascha Geršak, Marc Hosemann and Luca Maric.
Murder Mindfully is available on Netflix now.
