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Fiction. Mystery. Thriller. Historical Fiction. HTML:Hailed by Salman Rushdie as a “brilliantly innovative thriller-writer,” Philip Kerr is the creator of taut, gripping, noir-tinged mysteries set in Nazi-era Berlin that are nothing short of spellbinding. The first book of the Berlin Noir trilogy, MARCH VIOLETS introduces listeners to Bernie Gunther, an ex-policeman who thought he’d seen everything on the streets of 1930s Berlin–until he turned freelance and each case he tackled show more sucked him further into the grisly excesses of Nazi subculture. Hard-hitting, fast-paced, and richly detailed, MARCH VIOLETS is noir listening at its best and blackest.“Echoes of Raymond Chandler but better on his vivid and well-researched detail than the master”–Evening Standard
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otori Die Akte Vaterland set in 1932 with the Prussian Coup is a kind of forerunner to March Violets set in 1936.
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Enlivened as much by its good writing as by its twist on the detective genre, Philip Kerr's March Violets is an entertaining novel with a few noteworthy (though forgivable) flaws. This thriller is, essentially, a Raymond Chandler novel plucked from Bay City and placed into pre-war Nazi Germany (around the time of the 1936 Berlin Olympics). The Berlin setting is very well done, and the need for our detective protagonist to navigate the barriers of political and social repression under the Nazi regime offers a few exciting and original dynamics to the crime mystery plot ("Half the time I find myself presenting the forensic evidence of a homicide to the very people who committed it" (pg. 56)).
That said, Kerr's Bernie Gunther is pretty much show more a clone of Chandler's Philip Marlowe, and if not for Kerr's significant capabilities as a writer you could almost dismiss this as fan-fiction (think "Philip Marlowe fights Nazi Germany"). Gunther's wisecracks don't seem as natural in this setting: back-chatting the SS (and, in one scene, Reinhard Heydrich himself) is less believable than Marlowe being a wise-ass to a Bay City traffic cop. Quite simply, a real-life Gunther wouldn't be able to talk this freely. And that's before I even mention that just about every other character also talks in this way, from Gestapo agents ("if I find out you've been giving us any fig-leaf, then I'll have you in a KZ so quick, your fucking ears will whistle" (pg. 99)) to emaciated Jewish concentration-camp prisoners. In March Violets, everyday Berliners have a loose tongue with strangers, and while it makes the dialogue pop, you have to imagine that this would be as far from reality in 1936 as it's possible to be.
Speaking of which, the decision to place a story like this in a setting like Nazi Germany leads both Kerr and the reader into a few embarrassing cul-de-sacs. The protagonist we're rooting for is naturally cynical regarding the Nazi regime in power, but the nature of his job means he's often on the same side as their policemen in this book. Detective novels are all about the restoration of order after a crime has been committed, but that order here is National Socialist order. Gunther might give his Nazi salute reluctantly (pg. 61), and with a disparaging internal monologue, but as a reader we're meant to stick with him regardless.
It's a shame that I can't talk in great depth about the many good qualities of this book, which outweigh the bad, because to do so would to risk spoiling aspects of the plot. The crime, mystery and how it unfolds are all top-drawer, even allowing for the odd cliché (unavoidable, perhaps, in a book like this one) and the fact that it takes a while to ascend to its highest gear. The setting is excellent – oppressive, noirish and lived-in – and the writing is quality throughout. Kerr quickly gains the confidence of the reader that he can see us through, and unless you have the highest of high standards he doesn't disappoint.
The novel is a bit like a Faustian pact: in order to entertain, March Violets had to enliven its Marlowe imitation with a Nazi backdrop, but this very setting compromised it and meant it could only go so far as a piece of entertainment. On the surface, one can enjoy the classic gumshoe tropes – wisecracks are made, dames are bedded – even if they can come across as derivative. But there is always that reckoning, that deal with the devil being called in, in that the Nazi elephant in the room needs to be addressed. So when Kerr does address it all – concentration camps, Gestapo torture, etc. – it can be an unwelcome splash of cold water after the wisecracking ersatz-Marlowe jaunts. Kerr indulges the violence a bit too much – a rotting corpse is described in maggot-writhing detail, men are tortured, and one woman is gang-raped to death – and the reader can be left not knowing what ground they're standing on. Taking continued entertainment from a book that goes down these roads (without even signalling first) can feel a bit wrong.
There are benefits to being unfiltered – and Kerr's writing is like a dose of salts, because readers are so often sanitised against this stuff, even in crime fiction – but its jarring nature in March Violets also leads you to remember why those filters are usually there in the first place. It's hard to be entertained by a story when it confronts you with the reality of torture, anal rape and the Holocaust. I mean, really. It's only if you've got a strong stomach and an armoured soul that you can make the book sit right in your mind, and recognise it as, first and foremost, an engrossing story and a good piece of writing.
In short, the gumshoe, high-class pulp stuff doesn't rest easily with the violent Nazi repression stuff, but nor is their co-habitation sloppy. Kerr's too good a writer to let it slip. Instead, it's like two tectonic plates: brittle and restless, but which together can briefly generate the sensation of an earthquake. show less
That said, Kerr's Bernie Gunther is pretty much show more a clone of Chandler's Philip Marlowe, and if not for Kerr's significant capabilities as a writer you could almost dismiss this as fan-fiction (think "Philip Marlowe fights Nazi Germany"). Gunther's wisecracks don't seem as natural in this setting: back-chatting the SS (and, in one scene, Reinhard Heydrich himself) is less believable than Marlowe being a wise-ass to a Bay City traffic cop. Quite simply, a real-life Gunther wouldn't be able to talk this freely. And that's before I even mention that just about every other character also talks in this way, from Gestapo agents ("if I find out you've been giving us any fig-leaf, then I'll have you in a KZ so quick, your fucking ears will whistle" (pg. 99)) to emaciated Jewish concentration-camp prisoners. In March Violets, everyday Berliners have a loose tongue with strangers, and while it makes the dialogue pop, you have to imagine that this would be as far from reality in 1936 as it's possible to be.
Speaking of which, the decision to place a story like this in a setting like Nazi Germany leads both Kerr and the reader into a few embarrassing cul-de-sacs. The protagonist we're rooting for is naturally cynical regarding the Nazi regime in power, but the nature of his job means he's often on the same side as their policemen in this book. Detective novels are all about the restoration of order after a crime has been committed, but that order here is National Socialist order. Gunther might give his Nazi salute reluctantly (pg. 61), and with a disparaging internal monologue, but as a reader we're meant to stick with him regardless.
It's a shame that I can't talk in great depth about the many good qualities of this book, which outweigh the bad, because to do so would to risk spoiling aspects of the plot. The crime, mystery and how it unfolds are all top-drawer, even allowing for the odd cliché (unavoidable, perhaps, in a book like this one) and the fact that it takes a while to ascend to its highest gear. The setting is excellent – oppressive, noirish and lived-in – and the writing is quality throughout. Kerr quickly gains the confidence of the reader that he can see us through, and unless you have the highest of high standards he doesn't disappoint.
The novel is a bit like a Faustian pact: in order to entertain, March Violets had to enliven its Marlowe imitation with a Nazi backdrop, but this very setting compromised it and meant it could only go so far as a piece of entertainment. On the surface, one can enjoy the classic gumshoe tropes – wisecracks are made, dames are bedded – even if they can come across as derivative. But there is always that reckoning, that deal with the devil being called in, in that the Nazi elephant in the room needs to be addressed. So when Kerr does address it all – concentration camps, Gestapo torture, etc. – it can be an unwelcome splash of cold water after the wisecracking ersatz-Marlowe jaunts. Kerr indulges the violence a bit too much – a rotting corpse is described in maggot-writhing detail, men are tortured, and one woman is gang-raped to death – and the reader can be left not knowing what ground they're standing on. Taking continued entertainment from a book that goes down these roads (without even signalling first) can feel a bit wrong.
There are benefits to being unfiltered – and Kerr's writing is like a dose of salts, because readers are so often sanitised against this stuff, even in crime fiction – but its jarring nature in March Violets also leads you to remember why those filters are usually there in the first place. It's hard to be entertained by a story when it confronts you with the reality of torture, anal rape and the Holocaust. I mean, really. It's only if you've got a strong stomach and an armoured soul that you can make the book sit right in your mind, and recognise it as, first and foremost, an engrossing story and a good piece of writing.
In short, the gumshoe, high-class pulp stuff doesn't rest easily with the violent Nazi repression stuff, but nor is their co-habitation sloppy. Kerr's too good a writer to let it slip. Instead, it's like two tectonic plates: brittle and restless, but which together can briefly generate the sensation of an earthquake. show less
This was the first in the author's series of thrillers set in Nazi Germany featuring private investigator Bernhardt Gunther attempting to foil genuine crimes and be a decent human being, while avoiding getting caught up in politics. Very unsuccessfully on the latter point here. The backdrop is the Berlin Olympics in summer 1936 and the authorities are attempting to clean the city up temporarily (removing signs of anti-Jewish repression, for example) to avoid upsetting visiting foreigners. From the context, before the series start, Bernie already has a long past as an investigator and a policeman before that, and a prior First Word War record in Turkey. His latest client is a rich industrialist whose daughter has been horribly murdered show more with her husband. Needless to say, the truth is more complicated and Bernie becomes involved with beautiful actresses, criminal gangs, the Gestapo, SS, and even Hermann Goering and Reinhard Heydrich themselves. It is surprising he survives, the number of times he is beaten up and knocked out, and he even spends a spell in Dachau concentration camp; on the other hand he also has some surprising sexual opportunities. He has a resilient and self-deprecating character and a sardonic sense of humour, and I warmed to him as a character. There are some laugh out loud similes such as: "She gave me a smile that was as thin and dubious as the rubber on a secondhand condom" and "he swallowed nervously, his Adam’s apple tossing around like a honeymoon couple under a thin pink sheet." I shall definitely be pursuing this series for the characters. show less
Having read a few Kerr novels over the last year I invested in a trilogy called Berlin Noir, of which March Violets is the first part.
March Violets is a crime novel which introduces us to Bernie Gunther, a private detective. The novel is written very much in the style of Raymond Chandler, but with language that would not have been acceptable in the 1930s and 40’s when Chandler was in his pomp. Bernie Gunther is Philip Marlowe dumped into 1930s Berlin. Hitler has come to power and the Nazis are consolidating their hold on every aspect of German culture. Former policeman Gunther hates Nazis and although he is himself a brutal, sexist pig, with a foul mouth and an equally revolting mind, the fact that the swirling anti-Semitism and Nazi show more cruelty around him is so gross makes him almost appealing and I certainly felt sympathy for his cause. He growls around the city gathering evidence through a mix of threats, bribery, persuasion and keen observation. Whether he is in it for profit, or whether he is seeking justice is a question that is not adequately answered.
March Violets sees Gunther employed by a powerful businessman who is seeking the truth following the death of his daughter and her SS officer husband. More to the point he wants to recover a collection of priceless diamonds that were stolen by the murderer. Taking on the case Gunther finds himself attending the Berlin Olympics, up against the Berlin underworld, harassed and threatened by the Gestapo and drawn into the orbits of Hermann Goering and the chilling Richard Heydrich.
I really enjoyed this and was delighted to discover that Kerr has written no less than 14 Bernie Gunther novels. This could keep me busy for quite some time (though it could make Last Orders! book reviews a bit samey). The picture of the early days of the Nazi regime, the full knowledge and complicity of civilians in the development of the concentration camps and persecution of Jews was a compelling backdrop to a good story, with clever twists and a character who is clearly going to grow in future outings. Having the evil of the real architects of Hell added to the mix, along with Kerr's great knowledge of Berlin gave the book great depth and I found myself carried along and unable to put it down. I'm on to the next in the series already. show less
March Violets is a crime novel which introduces us to Bernie Gunther, a private detective. The novel is written very much in the style of Raymond Chandler, but with language that would not have been acceptable in the 1930s and 40’s when Chandler was in his pomp. Bernie Gunther is Philip Marlowe dumped into 1930s Berlin. Hitler has come to power and the Nazis are consolidating their hold on every aspect of German culture. Former policeman Gunther hates Nazis and although he is himself a brutal, sexist pig, with a foul mouth and an equally revolting mind, the fact that the swirling anti-Semitism and Nazi show more cruelty around him is so gross makes him almost appealing and I certainly felt sympathy for his cause. He growls around the city gathering evidence through a mix of threats, bribery, persuasion and keen observation. Whether he is in it for profit, or whether he is seeking justice is a question that is not adequately answered.
March Violets sees Gunther employed by a powerful businessman who is seeking the truth following the death of his daughter and her SS officer husband. More to the point he wants to recover a collection of priceless diamonds that were stolen by the murderer. Taking on the case Gunther finds himself attending the Berlin Olympics, up against the Berlin underworld, harassed and threatened by the Gestapo and drawn into the orbits of Hermann Goering and the chilling Richard Heydrich.
I really enjoyed this and was delighted to discover that Kerr has written no less than 14 Bernie Gunther novels. This could keep me busy for quite some time (though it could make Last Orders! book reviews a bit samey). The picture of the early days of the Nazi regime, the full knowledge and complicity of civilians in the development of the concentration camps and persecution of Jews was a compelling backdrop to a good story, with clever twists and a character who is clearly going to grow in future outings. Having the evil of the real architects of Hell added to the mix, along with Kerr's great knowledge of Berlin gave the book great depth and I found myself carried along and unable to put it down. I'm on to the next in the series already. show less
Originally published in 1989, March Violets by Philip Kerr is a historical mystery that takes place in Berlin during 1936. It is the first book in a series that features Bernard Gunther, a private investor. Gunther is a 38 year-old ex-cop who has been hired by wealthy industrialist Hermann Six to recover a diamond necklace stolen from a safe at his daughter Grete’s house. At the same time, Grete and her husband were both murdered and the house burnt. The setting is a pre-war Berlin that is getting ready to host the Olympics.
These novels have become recognized as classic noir with the hard-boiled detective working the angles and dealing with everyone from fascists to underground lowlifes. To me the best part of the book was the show more descriptions of Berlin, with it’s violence and brutality, pomp and posturing, and, with the Olympics on the horizon, the hiding of shady and morally grey aspects of the government. The Nazi’s banned books, but for the Olympics these banned books were placed back on the shelves. The mystery plot was quite convoluted yet it’s clever writing did draw me in.
March Violets is hard-hitting, detailed, and dark. There is a fair amount of grisly violence and women are treated as second-class citizens. Gunther has a sarcastic wit and a wry perspective on life in Berlin. He is not a fan of the Nazis but is smart enough not to risk seriously confronting them. I have more of these books on my shelves and will certainly give a Bernie Gunther mystery another try in the future. show less
These novels have become recognized as classic noir with the hard-boiled detective working the angles and dealing with everyone from fascists to underground lowlifes. To me the best part of the book was the show more descriptions of Berlin, with it’s violence and brutality, pomp and posturing, and, with the Olympics on the horizon, the hiding of shady and morally grey aspects of the government. The Nazi’s banned books, but for the Olympics these banned books were placed back on the shelves. The mystery plot was quite convoluted yet it’s clever writing did draw me in.
March Violets is hard-hitting, detailed, and dark. There is a fair amount of grisly violence and women are treated as second-class citizens. Gunther has a sarcastic wit and a wry perspective on life in Berlin. He is not a fan of the Nazis but is smart enough not to risk seriously confronting them. I have more of these books on my shelves and will certainly give a Bernie Gunther mystery another try in the future. show less
A gritty, noir thriller, and the first of what promises to be a gripping series. Bernie Gunther has left the police force and struck out on his own as a private investigator. What makes his work interesting is the time and place: Berlin, 1936 when the Nazis are in full power and preparing for the Summer Olympics. His services are more or less forcibly retained by a millionaire industrialist who has just lost his beloved daughter and her husband to a fire in their home. Both bodies are found in their bed, and the safe containing a priceless diamond necklace has been broken into. Was this a straightforward murder and burglary or is there more than first meets the eye? As Gunther investigates local jewelry vendors, he can't help but be show more horrified at how the Jews are being taken advantage of, with glaring anti-semitism at it's peak. Desperate to sell their valuables to get away from the repressive measures taken against them (most professions are banned to them, and everyone is quick to add "German" as a preface to their profession on their business cards to indicate they are of good Arian stock), they are forced to sell their belongings well below the market price. Trying to find out anything in this repressive system is bound to bring about all sorts of complications, and when Bernie's widowed secretary is too scared to return to work after being bullied by Nazi police officers, he's delighted to find a beautiful and single replacement for her in ex-journalist Ilse, but their romantic involvement is bound to render him that much more vulnerable. “March violets” was a term used for late-comers to the Nazi Party after the passage of Hitler's Enabling Act which rendered him a dictator on March 23, 1933. In May, the Nazi Party froze membership, and those with the lowest membership numbers were given preferential treatment, though everyone was eager to be seen as a Hitler supporter. Not so Bernie, who has Jewish clients and doesn't care for the views of a party he never chose to support, which is dangerous in and of itself because dissidents are daily being sent to concentration camps, where few are expected to survive the harsh conditions. I loved every bit of this private dick story set during a very dramatic period in history. Those who've enjoyed the more recent John Russell series by David Downing are bound to find this precursor highly satisfying. I'm very much looking forward to the next book! show less
This is a masterful beginning to a dark series about a private detective who first begins in 1936 Germany. The time and the setting are essential to the narrative, placing the story in a dark soul-drenching time and place where a socialist authoritarian police state has taken root. For good reason, the Berlin of the 1930's is a place of fear and terror and conformity. There are those who are selling their worldly possessions for ten cents on the dollar in the hopes of escaping. And there are those who know nowhere else and are conforming to the demands of political correctness run amuck, repeating sayings they do not believe in and posting photographs in their living room so that, if the Gestapo visits, they will see nothing but loyal show more Germans. It is a book which takes the reader into the depths of a despairing world, a police state where people keep disappearing and the business of looking for missing persons is booming for a detective, not that anyone who disappears is ever heard from again. It evokes North Korea and Stalinist Soviet Union, where no freedom truly existed and people just disappeared. Into this maelstrom, we find a noir unlike few others that have been written. At first when I encountered this series, I wondered about the setting - an odd choice - but now I see how the setting is so important and so fundamental to the story. There is nothing sugarcoated about the description of the Third Reich and its evils even in 1936, but Kerr brings a time and place alive. show less
Well, I am not sure how to react to this one. It seemed like a straightforward noir specimen: almost too much so, since our protagonist isn’t so morally grey as to have Nazi sympathies, even in 1936. But there was slang and snark and double-crossing...all the fun things!
And then the end came. Anda woman is practically raped to death, and the author makes a point of mentioning her anal violation, and how she reeked of semen and there was no way of knowing how many man had used her. It’s almost a mercy that she’s shot soon after. But still the plot goes on to the bitter end! (It May have been the sleepiness talking, but I was almost getting ending fatigue. If guess good for this story for not stopping in the predictable place with show more the predictable tied-up ends, but why subvert the rhythm there....) Nope, our protagonist is sentenced to Dachau until he can discover where some documents are hidden, which he so very nearly misses his opportunity to do so (delivered by serendipitous deus ex machina in the first place), that it seems stupid to have put the characters through the experience at all.
I do end with a strong feeling of, wow: where does the character go from here? show less
And then the end came. And
I do end with a strong feeling of, wow: where does the character go from here? show less
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- Canonical title
- March Violets
- Original title
- March Violets
- Original publication date
- 1989
- People/Characters
- Bernie Gunther; Hermann Six; Hermann Göring; Bruno Stahlecker; Inge Lorenz
- Important places
- Berlin, Germany
- Important events
- Olympic Games (1936)
- Epigraph
- Berlin, 1936,
First Man: Have you noticed how the March Violets have managed to completely overtake Party veterans like you and me?,
Second Man: You're right. Perhaps if Hitler had also wait... (show all)ed a little before climbing on to the Nazi bandwagon he'd have become Führer quicker too.
Schwarze Korps, November 1935 - Dedication
- For my mother
- First words
- Stranger things happen in the dark dreams of the Great Persuader...
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)The red Der Sturmer showcases were back on the street corners and, if anything, Streicher's paper seemed more rabid than ever.
- Original language*
- Englisch
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
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