by Philip Kerr
Part of Bernie Gunther, book 11
First published 2016
Bernie Gunther tends to guests at the Grand-Hotel du Cap-Ferrat on the French Riviera in 1956. The former Berlin homicide detective has left his past as an unwilling SS officer behind him. He gives tourists advice and fills empty seats at card games. When famous writer W. Somerset Maugham needs a fourth player for bridge at his Villa Mauresque, Bernie accepts the invitation. But Maugham wants more than a card partner. Someone is blackmailing the wealthy author, possibly because of his unconventional personal life or his former work with British intelligence. The blackmailers appear to be spies operating across Europe during the Cold War tensions. Bernie must use his detective skills to help Maugham while confronting how the crimes and corruption of Nazi Germany continue to poison the present. Even in the supposed peace of the 1950s, the shadows of the Third Reich reach across the continent.
Genres: historical-fiction, 20th-century, mystery, crime, detective, espionage
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: detective, redemption, secrets
Setting: French Riviera, Grand-Hotel du Cap-Ferrat, Villa Mauresque
Period: 1950s, 1956
400 pages · Hardcover · Marian Wood
Content warnings: violence