(Spoilers)
The Wednesday Whodunit Mystery Book discussion group selected The Pale Criminal by Philip Kerr to read and discuss on Wednesday, January 8, 2014. It is the sequel to March Violets that we read for last month's discussion and also stars Bernhard Gunther as the first-person protagonist. The copyright page of the edition I read said that the book was first published in Great Britain by Viking in 1990 and first published in the United States of America by Penguin Books in 2005. I wonder why there was such a time gap because March Violets was published in the U.S and the U.K. in 1989. I think it was because those two books and the third in the "Berlin Noir" trilogy were all published as one volume before 2005. The Pale Criminal takes place in Berlin and a few other parts of Germany in 1938. The title comes from a quote by Nietzsche given on the page following the title page of the book. The preceding About the Author section states that in addition to writing many books, Philip Kerr has edited The Penguin Book of Lies and The Penguin Book of Fights, Feuds, and Heartfelt Hatreds.
As stated in the previous review, I was somewhat underwhelmed by March Violets and was pleasantly surprised by The Pale Criminal. I can't say exactly why I found it to be a better book. Perhaps because Gunther didn't seem as cocky, lucky, and in control of everything as in the first book. The mystery was also much more complex and compelling. Gunther suffers setbacks and is coerced into rejoining the criminal police force, Kripo. He operates differently as a police Kriminalkomisar than as a private investigator. He has three officers under him but must also deal with the bureaucracy from above. I think the book includes many characters that were real people such as Heinrich Himmler, Otto Rahn, Julius, Streicher, Karl Maria Weisthor, Reinhard Heydrich, and Artur Nebe, though the story is fictional. I liked all the tie-ins to history. The book still contains many graphic descriptions that are essential for the most part, though a few seem gratuitous. The chapters are named with the dates that the events occur. The writing seemed to include fewer of those analogies that were attempts at humor than in March Violets. Perhaps this is because Gunther is getting more pessimistic as Hitler steers events toward war.
The book contains a couple of relatable references. Early on Gunther steps "out of the airship-sized glass shed that is Zoo Station" and walks "across Hardenbergplatz to Berlin Zoo's main entrance, which is just a short way south of the planetarium." (p. 37) I had heard of Zoo Station from the song by U2 off their 1991 album "Achtung Baby". I didn't know it was actually near the zoo, but I should have figured. Another place that sounded familiar was Luna Park where the police office Becker has to take his children to the funfair. There's a restaurant in Los Angeles called Luna Park. I liked all the German placenames and character names in the book. I got some idea of Berlin's neighborhoods from Kerr's descriptions. The women and girls have names such as Hildegard and Ulrike. I was a little disappointed that the zealous Ulrike didn't have a bigger part in the book.
Kerr is a British author writing mysteries set in Nazi Germany. He uses a few British English words and terms such as in the sentence, "All I could see were windows like my own, and on the rooftop the aerial of the police radio station." (p. 47) I think I already knew that an aerial is an antenna. But I didn't know the term in the sentence that Gunther spoke to Deubel: "I want you to set up an identity parade later on this morning." (p. 115) I gather that an identity parade is a police lineup. Just as I enjoyed the names, I also enjoyed the German ranks within the criminal police (Kripo) and political police (Gestapo). Heinrich Himmler is "Reichsfuhrer." Heydrich and Nebe are "Obergruppenfuhrers." Other ranks include "Oberstrurmbannfuhrer" and "Unterscharfuhrer." I would like to hear those ranks pronounced in proper German.
Perhaps in place of his previously unfunny analogies, Gunther has some interesting social and philosophical musings. Thinking about the publishing owner, Frau Lang, Gunther observes, "When women get beyond fifty, their age ceases to be of interest to anyone but themselves. With men the situation is entirely the opposite." (p. 15-16) Much later Gunther reflects how survival "especially in these difficult times, has to count as some sort of achievement. Life in Nazi Germany demands that you keep working at it. But having done that much, you're left with the problem of giving it some purpose. After all, what good is health and security if life has no meaning?" (p. 237) That is a good question that isn't just applicable in Nazi Germany.
Despite my disappointment with March Violets I'm glad I gave Philip Kerr a second chance with The Pale Criminal. I liked how Gunther was just as puzzled with the mystery as I was and had to attempt many different inquiries such as using a potential victim as bait, checking at a brothel, and with a pornographer. The book starts out with a fairly small case but it soon leads to something bigger. Some of Gunther's assumptions are proven wrong such as his believing Heydrich was involved in the death of his initial suspect. For some reason I thought more would be made of Becker shooting the photographer. Gunther had to deal with some interesting lowlifes as well as some powerful ones such as Julius Streicher, but the main case turned out to be so much bigger.
I look forward to reading the next Bernhard Gunther book in the series, A German Requiem, that takes place about ten years later, after World War II. The setting will be very different from the previous books, but similar to the setting of The Good German by Joseph Kanon.
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