The Pale Criminal

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Summary

The second in the late Philip Kerr's iconic 'Berlin Noir' trilogy, The Pale Criminal sees detective Bernie Gunther return to hunt one of the most evil killers in human history.

It is 1938 and Bernie Gunther is back on the mean streets of Berlin with his new partner, Bruno Stahlecker, another ex-police officer. But on a seemingly straightforward stakeout, Bruno is killed, and Bernie suddenly finds himself tapped for a much bigger job.

A serial sex murderer is killing Aryan teenage girls in Berlin - and what's worse, he's making utter fools of the police. Gunther is forced to accept a temporary post in Obergruppenfuehrer Reinhard Heydrich's state Security Service, with a team of men underneath him tasked purely with hunting the killer.

But can he trust his team any more than he can trust his superiors?

An unflinching, fast-paced thriller exploring the grisly excesses of Nazi subculture, The Pale Criminal will be loved by fans of Robert Harris and Frederick Forsythe.

'For Christmas, I would like all of Philip Kerr's Berlin Noir novels.' Sam Mendes, Guardian

'Blends high-powered storytelling with a rich piece of historical re-creation' Independent

'Kerr makes his star turns - Heydrich, Himmler, et al - eerily believable' The Times

'Powerful period flavour; a gruff, subversive hero; Kerr delivers the good' Literary Review

'Echoes of Raymond Chandler . . . vivid and well-researched' Evening Standard

Reviews

Blends high-powered storytelling with a rich piece of historical re-creation
Independent

About the author

Philip Kerr

Philip Kerr was born in Edinburgh and read Law at university. He stayed on to read Law and Philosophy as a postgraduate, most of this German, which was when he first became interested in German twentieth century history.

He worked first as a copywriter at a number of advertising agencies, including Saatchi & Saatchi, but spent most of his time researching an idea he'd had for a novel about a Berlin-based policeman. And following several trips to Germany - and a great deal of walking around mean streets of Berlin - his first novel, March Violets, was published in 1989 and introduced the world to the iconic tough-talking detective Bernie Gunther.

Since then he has written and published ten universally lauded Bernie Gunther novels, and is currently working on his eleventh. He has won both the RBA International Prize for Crime Writing, and the CWA Ellis Peters Historic Crime Award.

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