This is book 6 in the Bernie Gunther series. Set in the months after the Night of the Long Knives in 1934 when Hitler ordered the execution of the leaders of the SA by the SS, or the brown shirts being killed by the black shirts; Bernie, having been forced to quit the police when Hitler took over, is trying to make a living as the hotel detective for the best hotel in Berlin.

Two of the high profile guests required his assistance, both wealthy American Jews who had interests in the 1936 Olympiad. The man was a gangster from Chicago trying to get a slice of the Olympic pie and the woman, no connection to the man, was in search of a story she could use to get the US Olympic Committee to refuse to attend the Berlin show.

If you don’t know much history of the mid-thirties in Germany, this will give you a slimy underbelly view.

I’m still not sure I like the ending because it had the feel of another book. Yet, it worked well.

Mike Lawrence