March Violets

March violets is a derogatory term used by the Nazis to refer to those who converted "late." In this first of three novels written with wonderful historical detail about Berlin in the 1930s, called the Berlin Noir Triliogy, ex-policeman Bernie Gunther, who is reminiscent of a hard-boiled gumshoe, has to work hard not to reveal his disgust at what is being done to his Jewish friends. The murder and robbery he is hired to investigate seem like small potatoes against this backdrop of cultural meltdown. John Lee uses an edgy tone and changing timbre to capture the atmosphere of fear and excess that pervades this meticulous glimpse into a dark moment in time. D.G. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

July 6, 1989
The brutality and corruption of Nazi Germany serve as the backdrop for this impressive debut mystery novel. Scottish-born Kerr re-creates the period accurately and with verve; the novel reeks of the sordid decade that saw Hitler's rise to power. Bernhard Gunther is a hard-boiled Berlin detective who specializes in tracking down missing persons--mostly Jews. He is summoned by a wealthy industrialist to find the murderer of his daughter and son-in-law, killed during the robbery of a priceless diamond necklace. Gunther quickly is catapulted into a major political scandal involving Hitler's two main henchmen, Goering and Himmler. The search for clues takes Gunther to morgues overflowing with Nazi victims; raucous nightclubs; the Olympic games where Jesse Owens tramples the theory of Aryan racial superiority; the boudoir of a famous actress; and finally to the Dachau concentration camp. Fights with Gestapo agents, shoot-outs with adulterers, run-ins with a variety of criminals, and dead bodies in unexpected places keep readers guessing to the very end. Narrator Gunther is a spirited guide through the chaos of 1930s Berlin and, more important, a detective cast in the classic mold. Kerr is at work on a sequel to this sparkling and witty tale.