An excellent read in another of the Bernie Gunther series of WW2-era detective novels. As is the style for the series, the story alternates between a post-war case in which Bernie is involved as a private eye and a pre-war case in which he is engaged in his capacity as a police detective working (under slightly more degree of protest than the regime tolerates) for the Third Reich. The link between the two stories in this case is Friedrich Korsch who had been his understudy in the prewar years; after the war, as a Berliner, Korsch has to work (also with some reservations) for the Soviet puppet government in East Germany, and in that role is responsible for making sure that Bernie does not discover or undermine what his new bosses are up to.
Kerr’s trademark is flipping back and forth between the two stories. At least he always does us the courtesy of starting a new chapter and providing a dateline when he does so. In some of his books it is all a bit confusing, but the nature and settings of these two stories offer a clear distinction, so much so in fact that either one could stand on its own as an excellent adventure. That makes the overall book a pleasure to read.
The only drawback, really, is that if this is your first Gunther read, you will really want to know more about the back story that gets Gunther into the clutches of the German Reich in the first place, in which case try “The One from The Other” first.