With his cover blown, Bernie Gunther is waiting for the next move in the cat-and-mouse game that, even a decade after Germany’s defeat, continues to shadow his life.

"From New York Times-bestselling author Philip Kerr, the much-anticipated return of Bernie Gunther in a series hailed by Malcolm Forbes as "the best crime novels around today." A beautiful actress, a rising star of the giant German film company UFA, now controlled by the Propaganda Ministry. The very clever, very dangerous Propaganda Minister-close confidant of Hitler, an ambitious schemer and flagrant libertine. And Bernie Gunther, former Berlin...

Bernhard Gunther, a private investigator in Germany in 1938, is hired by a rich widow to discover who has been blackmailing her, and by the Berlin police to track down a serial killer, and runs into bizarre psychotherapy and medicinal practices and Nazi occultism.

"New York Times-bestselling author Philip Kerr treats readers to his beloved hero's origins, exploring Bernie Gunther's first weeks on Berlin's Murder Squad. A portrait of Bernie Gunther in his twenties: He's young, but he's seen four bloody years of trench warfare. And he's not stupid. So when he receives a promotion and a ticket out of Vice squad, he knows he's not really leaving behind the criminal gangs, the perverse sex clubs, and the laundry...