A review by skepticalri
A German Requiem: A Bernie Gunther Novel by Philip Kerr

4.0

Mysteries have always been one of my favorite forms of historical fiction because of their ability (when well written) to provide a glimpse of life in another time, place, etc while still being entertaining but not insulting your intelligence. Kerr does so wonderfully here with post-WWII Berlin/Vienna, slipping in additional information about the Soviet POW camps, postwar espionage and hypocrisy among the governmental bodies involved, and the atrocities on all sides that came at the end of the war. Because of what happened during the war, the view of German civilians after peace was declared has been overlooked to a large extent by all but academics. Kerr does an admirable job in rectifying that gap via private investigator Bernie Gunther.