The Pale Criminal: A Bernie Gunther Novel

This is the first Philip Kerr book I read. The plot is believable. Bernie Gunther (the main character) is a chracter that you'd like right from the beginning. The tough ex-cop turned PI is smart and has a sense of humour. The story is set in 1938 pre-war Berlin. Kerr does a great job describing the atmosphere at the time, the fear and danger for normal germans, the power wielded by nazis at the time. Against this backdrop is set a story of several murders that Bernie is asked to investigate. I won't give away any more of the plot. This book is highly recommended. Looking forward to more Bernie Gunther mysteries.

#2 in the Bernie Gunther series It's 1938 in Berlin and Frau Lange hires Bernie to find out who is blackmailing her about her son's homosexuality, a crime in Nazi Germany. Then Bernie is convinced by Reinhard Heydrich of the SS and Arthur Nebe of the Kripo (police) to rejoin the police in order to solve the ritual killing of young blond German girls. The murders are being hidden from the public since they are an embarrassment in Nazi Germany, which has no crime. The Kripo have convinced a Jew to confess to the crimes, but Bernie is convinced he is innocent. In fact, Bernie begins to suspect that someone is orchestrating and arranging the murder victims in order to incite public opinion against the Jews. Both cases come together immediately before the Kristallnacht pogrom that destroyed more than 7000 Jewish businesses, burnt down 177 synagogues, and killed 100 Jews. http://www.stopyourekillingme.com/K_Authors/Kerr_Philip.html

The Pale Criminal is the second book in Philip Kerr's Berlin Noir trilogy featuring Bernie Gunther, a tough-talking, hard-drinking, chain-smoking, cynical ex-cop, now private detective. The Pale Criminal takes place in 1938 Germany (mostly Berlin) and has Gunther working a case involving the murder of several teeange German girls. The Kripo (police) are unable to make progress in the case and Gunther is "requested" by Reinhard Heydrich, second in importance in the SS only to Heinrich Himmler, to temporarily rejoin the Kripo to take charge of the investigation. The interesting, though at times slow moving, plot reveals that some members of the Nazi party want to use the multiple murders to further incite anti-Jewish feelings. I found Kerr's description of pre-war Berlin and life in Nazi Germany to be engrossing, and it made me feel like I was right there experiencing the tension that permeated life in these times. The Pale Criminal is a good book that held my attention, and created enough interest to make me eager to read the third book in Kerr's Berlin Noir trilogy.

I read The Pale Criminal as part of the book Berlin Noir, which was the first three Bernie Gunther books. All of the Gunther books are great! If you like Philip Marlowe and those types of detective stories, this one is for you. Can't wait to read The Quiet Flame whenever it comes to the US.

It is August 26, 1938. Arthur Nebe, Kripo head, meets Bernhard Gunther, private investigator, in the middle of the night. It seems that Heydrich thinks Bernie would be useful to him if he were back in Kripo. Frau Lange is a new client. She wants Bernie to find out who is blackmailing her. To investigate the case he goes to stay in a clinic in Wannsee. Psychoanalysis has been banned, psychotherapy is the order of the day. Dr. Meyer, Bernie's physician, is a Jungian. Homosexuality is a criminal offense under the German Penal Code Section 175. Bernie's partner is murdered, the alleged blackmailer commits suicide, and Bernie is back at Kripo with a higher rank. He is working at Heydrich's behest to solve a serial murder case. He is now Kommissar Gunther. There are four dead girls and another missing. When Bernie learns from the Kripo head of unoffficial mercy killings, he knows that things have already gotten worse than he imagined. The body of the fifth victim is found through an anonymous call to Kripo. A suspect who through investigation becomes a nonsuspect turns up dead and a sixth girl, a fourteen year old attending a fee paying school, is missing. A schoolmate of the girl recalls a man wearing a uniform stopping his car near the school. Some of the men start to believe that one of their squad members has killed the nonsuspect. Gunther eliminates the man from the squad notwithstanding his protests that his actions are nothing compared to actions of higher officials. In order to break open the case the squad decides to use another young girl as bait. Two SS men are responsible for the crimes. Bernhard Gunther solves the mystery just before Kristallnacht. The book is outstanding. The dark morally chaotic universe of National Socialism is portrayed admirably.