Berlin Noir: March Violets; The Pale Criminal; A German Requiem by Philip Kerr
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Another Transfer from Now Reading plugin to Goodreads. This volume was read in 2009
This book, in fact three books together follow the career of Bernie Gunther a sometime cop but mostly a private eye. They are well written and certainly make you feel as though you are there. These stories are set in Germany before WWII and just after. If you are a student of the period then it makes the books all that more enjoyable. There is a lot of commentary on the transition from the Weimar republic with its failings to the new Nazi regime. The attention to detail is not surprising as the author Philip Kerr has published academic papers on the period.
The three titles included in this volume; March Violets; The Pale Criminal; A German Requiem really create a sense of seamier side of life. Gunther is a hard-nosed honest policeman who moves in and around some of the high flyers of the time. The close proximity to the real action is very clever. Through the course of the three volumes Bernie Gunther is pushed out of the police force as he will not bend to the demands of the new regime. He ends up as house detective for an upmarket hotel.
A great read, with more to come.