When his cover is blown, former Berlin bull and unwilling SS officer Bernie Gunther must re-enter a cat-and-mouse game that continues to shadow his life a decade after Germany’s defeat in World War 2… The French Riviera, 1956: Bernie’s old and dangerous adversary Erich Mielke, deputy head of the East German Stasi, has turned up in Nice—and he’s not on holiday. Mielke is calling in a debt and … holiday. Mielke is calling in a debt and wants Bernie to travel to London to poison a female agent they’ve both had dealings with. But Bernie isn’t keen on assassinating anyone. In an attempt to dodge his Stasi handler—former Kripo comrade Friedrich Korsch—Bernie bolts for the German border. Traveling by night and hiding by day, he has plenty of time to recall the last case he and Korsch worked together…
Obersalzberg, Germany, 1939: A low-level bureaucrat has been found dead at Hitler’s mountaintop retreat in Bavaria. Bernie and Korsch have one week to find the killer before the leader of the Third Reich arrives to celebrate his fiftieth birthday. Bernie knows it would mean disaster if Hitler discovers a shocking murder has been committed on the terrace of his own home. But Obersalzberg is also home to an elite Nazi community, meaning an even bigger disaster for Bernie if his investigation takes aim at one of the party’s higher-ups…
1939 and 1956: two different eras about to converge in an explosion Bernie Gunther will never forget.
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The Bernie Gunther series is one of my all-time favorites & Prussian Blue is my favorite in the series. Gunther, a private investigator in Nazi Germany is assigned to investigate a murder at the Crows Nest, Hitler’s mountain retreat in Bavaria. Filled with intrigue & Bernie’s signature gum shoe wit, Prussian Blue is enthralling!
Philip Kerr succumbed to cancer in 2018 and won’t be giving us any more Bernie Gunther novels, which is a great pity. It’s a terrific series, with historical figures and events blended with fictional ones, and highly recommended. That said, some of the entries are stronger than others, and I felt that this one suffered a bit from a desire to stuff all the fascinating research into the book, somewhat to the detriment of the story.
Two stories, to be precise; this one jumps back and forth between 1956 and 1939, as Bernie is tracked down by some old antagonists and has to run for cover, while flashbacks give us the history from seventeen years before. In 1956 Bernie is a concierge at a French Riviera hotel, where he is cornered by an old foe from his Berlin days, Erich Mielke, now head of East Germany’s Stasi. Mielke has a job for Bernie, and Bernie wants no part of it, so we are off to the races, with a former colleague, now a Stasi thug, chasing Bernie through the French countryside. Along the way he relives a case from 1939, when he and the colleague were called to Hitler’s mountaintop lair in Bavaria to clear up (or cover up) an inconvenient killing before Hitler gets wind of it. The two stories converge when Bernie goes to earth in 1956 in the same corner of Germany where the earlier case reached a climax.
The setup is a bit contrived and the 1939 narrative a bit bloated; we learn an awful lot about the mini-economy of Berchtesgaden and Obersalzberg in 1939, probably more than most of us want to know. I could have used a little less detail on Martin Bormann’s rackets and a little more of Bernie’s wisecracking. But Bernie fans won’t mind too much; his weary cynicism is the star of the show, never completely masking the stubborn idealist beneath. And there is this wonderfully melancholy sentence, poignant in light of Kerr’s premature death: “I’d always thought there was plenty of time to do a lot of things, and yet, now I really thought about it, there had been not a moment to spare.”
Brilliant writing again from author Kerr. This time a “contemporary” run-in with the Stassi, East German secret police, has many parallels to a murder investigation that Bernie Gunther ran before WW2 had really started. His former colleague, ever the pragmatist, is now working for the Stassi and where once they had protected each other, they are now deadly adversaries. The crux of the problem stems from Bernie’s unwillingness to betray or kill anyone at the behest of the Stassi, whether or not he likes the intended victims. It isn’t that Bernie won’t fight to survive, because to underestimate his survival instinct would be a mistake. It is more that, as morally-compromised as he sees himself, Bernie will not be a pawn for any ideology, especially for one likely to discard him as a dead patsy sooner rather than later. The ensuing hunt brings him to familiar stalking grounds, countryside that his new nemesis also remembers from their shared homicide case, a case which took place at Hitler’s mountain eyrie in Berchtesgaden. The historical fiction elements of the book are backed up with a bibliography, as usual, and shed more light on a grim time without being overly heavy-handed. One does not enjoy these books, per se, but parts such as the writing are enjoyable, as are some characters, though that is often before their true nature is revealed. Bernie remains, moral when he can be, immoral when he must be, the shell of a formerly good man trying to hold onto whatever dignity and life he can in a Cold War world that is nearly as brutal for many as were the war years.
A good first book to read in the Kerr series. Interesting characters in an historical setting. Those of us who grew up in the war years best appreciate this book.
The Gunther character novels by Philip Kerr hit all the characteristics I enjoy in a novel. If historical fiction with believable stories, great characters, and bright and witty writing are somethimg you enjoy, these novels will be one of your favorites also. Prussion Blue is superb.
Good character dialogue. Stark representation of historical Nazi corruption and evil practice.
Adore this author. Loved his protagonist, Bernie.Was mortified and devastated to read he died recently.I have lost 2 delights in my life
I’m a fan of Philip Kerr, but this was not up to his usual standard. Still an entertaining read.
Philip Kerr makes you feel like you are there. His history is great with so much detail.
The prose was so well done. It made me feel like I was there. Will be reading more Phillip Kerr novels. Kept the reader guessing until the end.
Nazi historical fiction.
I thought this was the weakest of the Gunther series I have read. Still, from an entertainment perspective Kerr comes through. Gunther’s involvement with various figures in the Nazi hierarchy add to his angst and Kerr’s historical research seems spot on.
Philip Kerr is a great writer
I so appreciate Philip Kerr’s writing and his Bernie Gunther character. He blends Nazi evil seamlessly into his other characters’ lives. He is a very talented writer, and I am particularly fond of this series. I mourn his loss to the world of fiction.
Already reviewed see goodreads
Kerr does the best job I’ve ever come across in folding true historical characters – many of them minor players in the histories but major characters in his stories – into the fictional world of his detective series. This one manages to exist in both 1956 and 1939, and to bring the adventures from both periods together so that the story is resolved beautifully at the end. Brilliant plotting and amazing writing quality throughout. If you’re new to Kerr’s Bernie Gunther series, then just start here. Also, be sure to read past the ending to where he lists what actually happened to all those real people, many of them villains.
He is an eloquent and informative author. Great read
Action packed story.
Very interesting insights into the moral dilemmas of working, living and functioning in pre WW2 Nazi Germany as seen and experienced by a crack Berlin Police (kripo) Agent. Action packed!
Like all the Bernie Gunther books, this is an enjoyable read with well developed characters. Skipping between pre- and post-WWII events in Europe, the book ties together the impact that a pre-war crime and its resolution had on a post-war dilemma for PI Gunther. What I find most interesting about this and the other Gunther books is the ability of the author to describe the atmosphere in Germany, especially in the lead up to war, and how it affects a German who is not a Nazi party member but who is caught up in the events
The protagonist is a brilliantly conceived German version of Chandler’s Philip Marlowe who confronts in his own irascible way the evil of Nazi led Germany.