Bernie Gunther investigates the murder of the daughter of one of German’s wealthiest industrialists while the 1936 Summer Olympics play out in Berlin. For good reason, the Berlin of the 1930's is a place of fear and terror and conformity. 4.0 out of 5 stars. Find album reviews, stream songs, credits and award information for The Botanic Verses - March Violets on AllMusic - 1994 - Replacing early vinyl-only compilations as the… Being a single-minded Neanderthal, as my beloved wife can attest to, I decided to read March Violets first because. The featured character in all of the books is Bernie Gunther an ex-cop who served in the Berlin Criminal Police for many years. A splendid first thriller introducing Bernhard Gunther, a caustic private eye who solves a case of theft, murder, and... by Philip Kerr Surprisingly Slow Protagonist, Uneven Plot. This made me go back to the very first Gunther novel, “March Violets,” the beginning of the Berlin Noir trilogy, which I read in 1989 and have re-visited a few times since. This is a masterful beginning to a dark series about a private detective who first begins in 1936 Germany. Putnam's Sons. noir. Mystery/Thriller. There's a problem loading this menu right now. For good reason, the Berlin of the 1930's is a place of fear and terror and conformity. ‧ Oh yeah, and a visit to Dachau concentration camp. Specially living in a city controlled by SS, many other kind police,government agencies. Occasionally, I have caught an historical mistake in his books. And there are those who know nowhere else and are conforming to the demands of political correctness run amuck, repeating sayings they do not believe in and posting photographs in their living room so that, if the Gestapo visits, they will see nothing but loyal Germans. ( Log Out / Or, that they are interlinked in some way, the stories similar, about the same characters, or a similar theme. Interesting concept of the old detective in a giant city in turmoil under the Nazi regime and then the war. The lineup held for the subsequent “Walk into the Sun” but, as 1985 dawned, Denbigh was squeezed out of the band (he immediately formed Batfish Boys). In the meantime, though, he's been pressured to take a series of even bigger jobs: one client, Hermann Goering, hires him to locate Gerhard von Greis, who has the papers from Pfarr's safe--papers Goering is intent on concealing from his archrival Heinrich Himmler; and another, General Heydrich, forces him into Dachau as an undercover agent to pry the location of the papers out of the safecracker Mutschmann. The Violets favored stark, primitive rhythm-box beats (as did the others), overlaid by Loz Elliott’s heavy bass throb and Tom Ashton’s inventively droning guitar (reminiscent of Magazine’s John McGeoch). Sometimes, Kerr's machine-gun-quick, funky, metaphors are almost too much. EMAIL NEWSLETTERS: Get breaking news, Seahawks coverage, Joel Connelly and award-winning photography in your inbox. He was best known for his Bernie Gunther series of 13 historical thrillers and a children's series, Children of the Lamp, under the name, “When you get a cat to catch the mice in your kitchen, you can't expect it to ignore the rats in the cellar.”, “I made an appointment to see him and then ordered another beer. There is nothing sugarcoated about the description of the Third Reich and its evils even in 1936, but Kerr brings a time and place alive. Published by Penguin 2012. The book's psychological aspect, explaining just how Germans went along with the Nazi atrocities, is fascinating and disturbing. The plot is tightly woven, informative historically and unfortunately appropriate to life in our country at this time. Your recently viewed items and featured recommendations, Select the department you want to search in, Reviewed in the United States on September 21, 2017. Four stars, because he got me. Bernie repeatedly gets set up and worked over by officials, crooks, and free-lancers, but always comes up with another wisecrack about life in the Third Reich, a rich field indeed for a private eye to work. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of, Published March Violets is the first novel in the detective series by the late Philip Kerr. It was fun,twisting and vivid PI story. What set this quartet apart was the unique interplay (à la X or the Airplane) between the two complementary lead vocalists — big, bearded Simon Denbigh and enigmatic Rosie Garland. NOOK Book. Prime members enjoy FREE Delivery and exclusive access to music, movies, TV shows, original audio series, and Kindle books. See All Buying Options. After contributing two items (including an amazingly catchy rendition of the Rolling Stones’ “Miss Amanda Jones”) to 1987’s Some Kind of Wonderful soundtrack, the March Violets faded away. They are goth without the punk soud of the old school, not as arty as The Virgin Prunes and Sex Gang Children and certainly not … Gunther must use all his resources and those of his informants, call in favours, and go in debt for new ones. Reviewed in the United States on August 29, 2020. Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. FICTION. Like Chandler and Hammett, Kerr can write a fast-paced, hard-hitting, rompy detective novel. The story was good, but not great, with a few plot holes, but I didn't mind. Gunther is an interesting protagonist, a gray man who uses humor and sarcasm to cope with the endless bureaucracy, overbearing administration, criminal elements (both within and outside the law) and the brutality of the times. This page works best with JavaScript. That was a slang term for opportunistic Germans who raced to jump on the Nazi bandwagon once Adolph Hitler came to power in March 1933. The first post-Denbigh 45 (the misnamed “Deep”) laid bare the Violets’ weakened condition. Trouble signing in? The mystery is believable and Kerr draws the various plot threads together in a credible way. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Like Chandler and Hammett, Kerr can write a fast-paced, hard-hitting, rompy detective novel. The late Philip Kerr is best known for his Berlin Noir series featuring Bernhard ‘Bernie’ Gunther. Paperback (Reprint) $ 16.00. To see what your friends thought of this book. Reviewed in the United States on October 23, 2018. Although there is an abundance of diaries, memoirs, and historical studies which can help us imagine what living in the Third Reich was like, Kerr does not try for psychological realism, but merely imports behaviour and character types from American noir. I enjoyed this book. You cant go to police for help when the police are the ones killing people.... Philip Kerr was a British author. The Battle of Hastings. O.K., Herr Kerr, I'll read more. The feeling that he has actually invented time-travel and actually HAS been back to the period he writes about. The first book of the. Married an American Army officer. I have stayed in Berlin several times and do know much of the city now. I would definitely read another book in this series! Reviewed in the United States on November 21, 2019. They can sugar-coat the truth, but can't pull the wool over everyone's eyes. Kerr writes fluidly with a style that seems a confluence of Chandler, Hammet, Spillane and Connelly. Along the way Bernie will encounter the top brass of evil Nazis from Goebbels to Heydrich to Himmler, Arthur Nebe and many more. Never heard of him. RELEASE DATE: July 7, 1989. This is first book in Berlin Noir trilogy a hardboiled PI series set in 1930s,1940s Germany. Nonetheless, after this classic hard-boiled detective story with a fast plot and brutal violence, I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series, which I know will become better. While I found it faithful to the noir genre, with snappy, albeit wordy dialogue the denouement was too easily foreseen. The readers of March Violet will go on a roller coaster ride with Bernie Gunther to find out who killed Grete and Paul Pfarr. The brutality and corruption of Nazi Germany serve as the backdrop for this impressive debut mystery novel. Fiction. I also felt Kerr did a wonderful job of creating an almost palpable atmosphere of tension. There was alot of information about Berlin streets,culture that made it feel like german author,german characters and not another american,british author telling a story about those times. I am a character-driven reader, and Bernie Gunther, with all his quirks delivered on that front.
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