The Pale Criminal

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This is Philip Kerr's second Bernie Gunther book. The year is 1938, and while Germany dances with Chamberlain over the Sudetenland Crisis, Bernie Gunther is tapped by a wealthy widow to deal with a blackmailer. In the midst of the blackmailing case, Bernie's partner is killed and Bernie finds himself blackmailed into rejoining the Kripo to track down a serial killer who has killed four BdM girls.

Kerr has a great ability to use history. I get a feeling that he is managing to capture some of the feeling of Berlin at the time, where not everyone was exalting over Hitler, the Nazis, or their slow-walk to war. I was surprised to see the following:

//‘Then you, a Kommissar, should know that the Gestapo takes precedence over Kripo where the services of VDi are required.' ‘

I know of no such thing. But what great crime has been committed that might require your department to take precedence over a murder investigation? Charging a priest with a fraudulent transubstantiation perhaps? Or trying to pass off the communion wine as the blood of Christ?'

‘Your levity is quite out of order, Kommissar,' he said. ‘This department is investigating most serious charges of homosexuality among the priesthood.'

‘Is that so? Then I shall certainly sleep more soundly in my bed tonight. All the same, my investigation has been given top priority by General Heydrich himself.'

‘Knowing the importance that he attaches to apprehending religious enemies of the state, I find that very hard to believe.'

‘Then may I suggest that you telephone the Wilhelmstrasse and have the general explain it to you personally.'

‘I'll do that. No doubt he will also be greatly disturbed at your failure to appreciate the menace of the third international conspiracy dedicated to the ruin of Germany. Catholicism is no less a threat to Reich security than Bolshevism and World Jewry.'//

A casual reader might not know it, but the Nazis did refer to three great international conspiracies against them - the Communists, the Jews, and the Catholic Church, the last of which was the “Black International.” Kudos to Kerr for deep reading history.

It's also interesting to see Kerr work in figures like Streicher, Himmler and Heydrich into his story. In a way, I had the feeling that I was reading Steven Saylor's Roma Sub Rosa series where Saylor does the same thing with Caeser, Cicero and Pompey.

Kerr also mixes in biographical details from the lives of Otto Rahn and Karl Maria Weisthor in a way that makes his mystery come together in a logical and satisfying story. I hadn't realized that they were anything but fictional characters until I used Kerr's afterword to look them up.

So, this is well-written, well-plotted book. The character of Bernie Gunther comes across like his spiritual cousin, Phil Marlow, across the Atlantic. There was enough dry wit to keep things engaging. At times, I wondered how authentic Kerr's Berlin-detective slang was...and at times I wanted a glossary. Is a “spinner” a good thing or a bad thing?

I think I liked this story better than the first Bernie Gunther story.