The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum, or: how violence develops and where it can lead (original German title: Die verlorene Ehre der Katharina Blum oder: Wie Gewalt entstehen und wohin sie führen kann, pronounced [diː fɛʁˈloːʁənə ˈʔeːʁə deːɐ̯ kataˈʁiːnaː ˈbluːm ˈʔoːdɐ viː ɡəˈvalt ʔɛntˈʃteːən ʔʊnt voˈhɪn ziː ˈfyːʁən ˈkan] ⓘ) is a 1974 novel by Heinrich Böll.

The story deals with the sensationalism of tabloid news and the political climate of panic over Red Army Faction terrorism in the 1970s in the Federal Republic of Germany.

Four days after a Fat Thursday's eve party (Wed. February the 20th, 1974), where Katharina Blum met a man named Ludwig Götten, she calls on chief inspector Moeding, and confesses to killing a journalist of the tabloid Die Zeitung.

The attack on vulgar journalism is thus mounted from the perspective of a narrator whose moral authority is enhanced by the use of the 'regal' first-person plural form.

In some parts of the story, the elaborate and detached manner is also used for comic effect when retelling violent, silly or emotionally conflicted incidents as more and more personal secrets of the characters are revealed.