Hard-boiled detective Bernie Gunther takes on a depraved serial killer
terrorizing 1930's Berlin in the second gripping mystery in Philip
Kerr's New York Times bestselling series.
In the sweltering summer heat wave of 1938, the German people anxiously
await the outcome of the Munich conference, wondering whether Hitler
will plunge Europe into another war. Meanwhile, private investigator
Bernie Gunther has taken on two cases involving blackmail. The first
victim is a rich widow. The second is Bernie himself.
Having been caught framing an innocent Jew for a series of vicious
murders, the Kripo--the Berlin criminal police--are intent on locating
the real killer and aren't above blackmailing their former colleague to
get the job done. Temporarily promoted to the rank of Kommissar, Bernie
sets out to solve the dual mysteries and begins an investigation that
will expose him to the darkest depths of humanity...