A review by noonjinx
March Violets: A Bernie Gunther Novel by Philip Kerr

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

First published in 1989 and the first of a dozen books so I don’t know why I’d never heard of this series. It’s hard boiled private detective first person noir so exactly my sort of thing. This one has the interesting twist of being set in Berlin just after the nazis took power. Most of the book is quite lighthearted considering the setting, but it gets considerably darker towards the end. The prose is smooth, the wisecracking anti-establishment narrator is a lot of fun, the plot tangles crime and politics, and the whole thing speeds along nicely. I will definitely read more.
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