A Pale Criminal by Phillip Kerr

I just finished the second book in the Berlin Noir series by Phillip Kerr, A Pale Criminal, and there is quite a maturing between it and March Violets, the first book in the series. Private Detective Bernie Gunther is back and he has taken on Bruno Stahlecker, another ex-police officer, as a partner. This is an unfortunate decision for Stahlecker, as he is murdered early in the book on a stake out for what seems like a cut and dry case. Of course with Kerr, nothing is cut and dry. In what turns out to be a huge, ever-escalating case, he is forced back into the Berlin police, and worse, is made a Kommisar in the state Security Service (or the dreaded SS, as they later became know). As Gunther tracks a serial sex murderer he interacts with many of the senior players in the Nazi party and Kerr gives us an amazing insight into life in Berlin as the Second World War is about to break out. Once again this novel is not only a good detective story, it is equally interesting as historical fiction.