Bernie Gunther is back in Berlin and it's 1941. He's not very happy but living in Berlin is better than where he had been, the Russian front, helping to dispose of Ukrainian Jews. He was saved from Russia by Reinhardt Heydrich, the notoriously cruel SS Officer, who was assassinated in 1942. He seems to have taken a liking to Bernie. Now that Bernie is back in Berlin, he is a reluctant detective in the SS. He encounters a woman being beaten by a man, rescues her but loses track of the assailant. The woman happens to be not only beautiful but grateful, so they become lovers. When Heydrich calls Bernie to Prague, he brings her along because she is a Czech national. Heydrich is living in a chateau outside of Prague where he has invited a number of high ranking Nazis for the weekend. During the first evening, a murder occurs and Bernie is charged by Heydrich to interview the various officers and find out who committed the murder. During these interviews, we learn how normal the Nazis were, back stabbers no doubt, but small minded and mundane. Part of the fun of the novel is watching Bernie make the Nazi officials uncomfortable with his questioning.
Kerr is excellent at merging facts (what life was like in Prague under Nazi occupation in 1941) with fiction and many of the names of officers are actual Nazis officials. The murder is a mystery because it takes place in a locked room, reminiscent of an Agatha Christie novel, which Heydrich has read and teasingly alludes to when he and Bernie end up discussing the murderer. Bernie knows he is walking a tightrope with Heydrich because at any moment, at any displeasure, he can have Bernie killed. Bernie loathes him yet respects him for intelligence, his rise to the top. Unfortunately, Bernie's girl friend, proves to be part of eh Czech underground and ends up being shipped off to a concentration camp. The story has a surprise ending, the murderer, totally unexpected until we think about it. Who else could it have been.
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