Published by Sandstone Press,
18 May 2017.
ISBN 978-1-910985-64-9 (PB)
18 May 2017.
ISBN 978-1-910985-64-9 (PB)
Volker Kutscher really conveys the
atmosphere of a frenetic Berlin in 1930. The battles between Communists
and Nazis are rumbling along in the background in a city where people can find
interesting bars and restaurants and obtain, if they wish, drugs to add to
their excitement. Rath is a native of Cologne so he can look at Berlin
fairly dispassionately.
In
Berlin, in 1930, silent movies are being replaced by the new and expensive
talkies so there is turmoil in the acting and producing world as people
manoeuvre to get established in this changing milieu. When an actress is
killed during the filming of a talkie by a lighting system falling on her,
Inspector Gereon Rath is sent to investigate. He has various demons of
his own to fight. His father arrives in Berlin and requests
that he help the mayor of Cologne, Konrad Adenauer, with a problem; a friend
has asked him to investigate the disappearance of another actress, his
job has involved him in activity around the funeral of Horst Wessel who is to
become a Nazi martyr. Meanwhile he has returned to smoking and there
is his exgirlfriend Charlotte…. Furthermore Rath doesn’t get on with his
superior and has hit Brenner, a fellow detective, in public for coarse remarks
about a lady; Brenner has used the incident to cause trouble for Rath.
Rath is sidelined in the investigation into Betty’s death until it
becomes apparent that there could be links between her death and those of other
actresses.
The
action takes place over 2 weeks from Feb. 28th, 1930 to March 14th and its
progress is reminiscent of a film script. In fact, the script for the
silent movie was very helpful in pinpointing the development of Betty’s
murder. The frenetic atmosphere of the city of Berlin emphasises a
nightmarish quality added to references to shadowy activity involving films,
women and drugs. Rath is self-destructive in what has become the
traditional way of detectives of any era but he is, of course, also clever and
persistent so he eventually reaches a successful conclusion though he only just
escapes some bad effects on his professional career and on himself.
------
Reviewer: Jennifer S. Palmer
Volker
Kutscher has written a series of novels about Gereon Rath - the first of these,
Babylon Berlin, is a Sky TV series.
Photo Credit: Monika Sandel |
Volker Kutscher was born in 1962 in Lindlar, West
Germany. He
studied German, Philosophy and History, and worked as a newspaper editor prior
to writing his first detective novel. Babylon Berlin, the start of an
award-winning series of novels to feature Gereon Rath and his exploits in late
Weimar Republic Berlin. This enormously successful crime series
which, in addition to compelling narrative, is notable for its scrupulous
accuracy on Germany in the years between its beginning in 1927 and the approach
to the Second World War. Volker
Kutscher works as a full-time author and lives in Cologne.
Niall Sellar was born in Edinburgh in 1984. He studied German and Translation Studies in Dublin, Konstanz and Edinburgh, and has worked variously as a translator, teacher and reader. Alongside his translation work, he currently teaches Modern Foreign Languages in Harrow. He lives in London.
Jennifer
Palmer Throughout my reading life crime fiction
has been a constant interest; I really enjoyed my 15 years as an expatriate in
the Far East, the Netherlands & the USA but occasionally the solace of
closing my door to the outside world and sitting reading was highly
therapeutic. I now lecture to adults on historical topics including Famous
Historical Mysteries.
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