I have, over the years, read several of the Philip Kerr books featuring Bernie Gunther, the Berlin homicide detective. The story line has brought me through the terror of the Nazi years when Bernie was tolerated by the high command because he had established himself as an honest policeman. The Nazi top dogs wanted Bernie on a case because his involvement in any criminal case brought an air of honesty to the government which was needed in a criminal government.

Of course the blessings of the fanatic, right-wing government put a lot of pressure on Bernie because some citizens looked at him and considered him to be a protector of the fascists.

I read these books through the history of Germany's horrors of the Hitler years ending with the fall of that government. Bernie, then had to move on to avoid being roped into the post-war period.

I now find this book which pre-dates the other books and is set in the days when Bernie was originally a new investigator in the Berlin Police homicide bureau. The years of this book are the late 1920's and early 30's. This was prior to the dominance of the Nazis in the Berlin government. A lot of this book is based upon the history of those days with many of the books characters real, historical figures. This is a fictional book, just barely.

This book just may be the last book about Bernie Gunther by Philip Kerr because Mr. Kerr recently died. That has not stopped other authors from continuing to write excellent books following their death. I can only hope that will be the case with Mr. Kerr.

This book was left in the bookshelf for "take a book: Leave a book" in the lobby of the Inn just across the lobby from the piano.