The Lady From Zagreb

Bernie Gunther Thriller 10

By: Philip Kerr

Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble

Bernie Gunther is back, in deeper trouble than ever in this new novel from the master of the historical thriller.

Summer 1942. When Bernie Gunther is ordered to speak at an international police conference, an old acquaintance has a favour to ask. Little does Bernie suspect what this simple surveillance task will provoke . . .

One year later, resurfacing from the hell of the Eastern Front, Bernie receives another task that seems straightforward: locating the father of Dalia Dresner, the rising star of German cinema. And if escaping Berlin for a beautiful woman isn't motivation enough, there's the small matter of the request's origin: Goebbels himself.

But Dresner's father hails from Yugoslavia, a country so riven by sectarian horrors that even Bernie's stomach is turned. And meanwhile the previous year's cold case lingers on, and there's only so long Bernie can stay away.

Bernie hasn't mellowed one iota, and his mordant wit and cynical observations are as sharp as ever. But even with monsters at home and abroad, one thing alone drives him on from Berlin to Zagreb to Zurich: Bernie Gunther has fallen in love.

(P) 2022 Quercus Editions Ltd©2015 Thynker Limited

Critic reviews

Still streets ahead of most other historical thrillers in its blend of wit, careful plotting and the kind of detail that brings the past to life (Nick Rennison)

Bernie Gunther is one of the more interesting and original private eyes in thriller fiction... as the other nine Bernie Gunther novels show, Kerr thoroughly researches the period he writes about. In particular, he excels in his atmospheric portrayal of Berlin... (Marcel Berlins)

...a return to form for Kerr: it will keep diehard admirers of the Gunther novels happy and will also garner new supporters. As an alternative view of the Nazi world order, it's hard to beat. The Lady

...a satisfying slab of hardcore historical thrills... fans of the sleuth will happily add this to their growing bookshelves, but it will win over other genre-lovers too.

Kerr's novels are modern classics (Simon Sebag Montefiore)

The best crime novels around today (Malcolm Forbes)

The good detective trying to do his best within a corrupt regime, few writers have tackled the theme with the rigour of Philip Kerr

Only a few books left!

I cannot rate these series of books enough. Bernie is such a human character. Flawed and brave and I always finish a book feeling a little sorry for him. Many stories, novels and film, seem to have a very good or evil type narrative when it comes to Nazis germany. But Bernie it seems to me exists within that grey zone where so many citizens of the third reich must have existed. Being a good man whilst also being a member of such an evil organisation as the SS.
The stories are immensely well researched and vivid. The narration is first class, I’d say the best I’ve heard. The narrators gravely voice gives me the impression of a life hard lived, too much schnapps and cigarettes.
My utmost admiration to Phillip Kerr for creating such a brilliant series.
The only other series I’ve consumed voraciously is the Flashman books. Tone is much different but again a highly flawed yet human character.