Charlotte Otter is a South African writer living in Germany. She is a journalist by training, and began her career as a trainee reporter on The Witness and The Star, before working at The Citizen as a crime and court reporter. Charlotte relocated to Germany in 1996 to work for the technology company SAP. Her first novel, Balthasar’s Gift, featuring crime reporter Maggie Cloete, was published in Germany in 2013 by Ariadne Verlag and in South Africa in 2014 by Modjaji Books. Her second novel, Karkloof Blue was also published by Ariadne Verlag and Modjaji Books. Charlotte works full-time at SAP and uses the early morning hours to write novels. She lives in Heidelberg in Germany with her husband, three children and a ton of books.