If you are keen on getting to know the city not only in its physical existence but also as the myth-city of film and literature, there is a Wrocław-set crime series that I highly recommend to you.
I adore Marek Krajewski's novels featuring Eberhard Mock, a German policeman in the between-the-wars and WWII Breslau. Imagine ungentlemanly Sherlock Holmes who was led astray, took to drinking, whoring an overeating and you have Eberhard Mock. The plot of these gripping stories is always intricate; both crimes and methods Mock uses to fight them - very brutal. While Holmes in many cases solves the mysteries merely sitting at his desk, Mock gets his hands dirty.
But the series starting with "Death in Breslau" is much more than an exquisite crime fiction. Because one of the most important protagonists of the novels is the city of Breslau/Wrocław.
In Krajewski's fiction the city is vividly depicted. Together with Mock you eat and drink in numerous restaurants, walk the streets of Breslau, visit various kinds of establishments, from university library to his favourite brothel in Oporów/Opperau. In the Polish version of the novels you can always find a glossary with current names of the streets and buildings of Breslau, and I hope that it is also included in international editions. (I'd read all Breslau novels before I moved to Wrocław, so unfortunately places described in the book didn't evoke any images in my head)
Marek Krajewski's books are translated into English and many other languages, so if you're into crime fiction and heading to/living in Wrocław, this series is definitely a must-read!
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