![\"\"](\"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/prague.jpg\" "\\"prague\\"")
<\/a>A hard-bitten cop in a big city \u2013 disgusted with his job, disdainful of his superiors, disillusioned with his life \u2013 is not uncommon.\u00a0 Berlin\u2019s Bernie Gunther is just such a cop, the one his superiors hate to see coming but have to use, since he\u2019s so good.\u00a0He chases down one drink after another, and chases after women with tails \u201c\u2026that seemed to have a whole life\u201d of their own.<\/p>\nDropping a cop like Bernie into a closed-room murder in a castle is a little more uncommon.\u00a0His boss orders him to attend a weekend retreat, at which someone is murdered.\u00a0His boss then orders Bernie to solve the mystery, and everyone to remain in the castle until he does.\u00a0It\u2019s a case that smacks more of Christie than Chandler.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s really uncommon, however, is the cast of characters and the setting of this story \u2013 1942 German-occupied Prague, and a cadre of infamous Nazi officials.\u00a0Philip Kerr has constructed a fictional murder case in a riveting historical context.\u00a0\u00a0Reichsprotector Reinhard Heydrich, head of the SS, has taken a shine to Bernie \u2013 he\u2019s tough, can\u2019t be intimidated, and can\u2019t be stopped once he\u2019s set on the trail of a murder.\u00a0Heydrich is comfortable enough in his power to put up with Bernie\u2019s obvious disdain; he orders everyone to comply with Bernie\u2019s questions, and even submits himself.\u00a0Bernie\u2019s investigation serves as the narrative device that reveals not only the murderer, but also this cast of murderers\u2019 personal traits.\u00a0Bernie has just returned from the Russian front where he saw the policies of this odious crew put into deadly practice; his interrogations constantly contrast their pettiness with the profundity of their evil.\u00a0Every now and then, Kerr gives the reader a jolt by dropping the post-war fates of these men into the narrative, to chilling effect.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Bernie must put together a conclusion out of disparate clues, which include a dead Berlin railway worker, matching knife wounds on another body, a hatcheck girl and an Agatha Christie novel.\u00a0As his investigation transpires, he uncovers not only the murderer but also the spy Heydrich was looking for.\u00a0 Of course, the truth brings dire consequences for Bernie and anyone close to him.<\/p>\n
As he recounts this tale, he finds little solace in his survival and the post-war demise of most of the suspects in this case.<\/p>\n
Meticulous research and an intriguing if derivative plot (it\u2019s meant to be that way) mark this addition to the series featuring Bernie Gunther.\u00a0Besides being suffused with the ghastly irony of a single murder being pursued while millions are dying at the hands of these functionaries, the book leaves a tangible taste of life under the Nazi regime.\u00a0 Without soap, for instance, \u201c\u2026even the prettiest girl smelled like a stevedore.\u201d\u00a0 When stopping for a paper and a sausage sandwich, Bernie \u201c\u2026finds even less of interest in the sandwich than in the paper.\u201d\u00a0 And, of course, the abiding fear in the population.\u00a0 When the hatcheck girl\u00a0finds out he\u2019s a cop, she sits stunned, \u201c\u2026as if a doctor had told her she had six months to live.\u201d\u00a0 The author has successfully woven fact and fiction into an uncommonly good story, which lingers long after the book is finished.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Fittingly, Bob Moyer has sent from Germany a review of a mystery dealing with wartime Germany. Will Bob keep traveling the world, sending reviews to match his locales? Or will he return to North Carolina and join the rest of us in armchair journeys? Stay tuned. Meanwhile, enjoy this review. By Robert P. Moyer PRAGUE […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[314,27,313],"class_list":["post-855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mysteries","tag-bernie-gunther","tag-mystery","tag-philip-kerr"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=855"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":857,"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855\/revisions\/857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}