Death in Berlin [Paperback]

Mary Margaret Kaye (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: St Martins Pr (1985)
• ASIN: B000OTHZYG
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well-written Suspense, July 16, 2000

By 

merrystar (Virginia, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Death in Berlin (Paperback)

M.M. Kaye's evocative writing style submerges the reader in her tale of murder and intrigue in 1950's Berlin. As with her other "Death" books, she gives us a cast of characters caught up in a series of murders as both victims and suspects rather than investigators, denying the reader any comforting distance from the unfolding tale. Miranda Brand, while a typical Kaye heroine in many respects (she's young, beautiful, british, fairly intelligent and trying to take a holiday), is more believable in her reactions to the events of the story than many of the other Kaye heroines.

However, the success of this and the other "Death" novels for me does not hinge on the characters or even the intricacy of the mysteries, but on the atmosphere of suspense which permeates them. It is this atmosphere which causes me to reread them over and over. "Death in Berlin", with it's WWII backstory and grim scenery is among the best of the series. The other strength of these novels is their description of the society created by the families of British soldiers posted abroad. M.M. Kaye had ample experience as a child, a young woman, and a married adult in this social situation and she uses it with skill.

I recommend "Death in Berlin" in particular, and the rest of the series in general, both for M.M. Kaye's amazing descriptive talents and for the wonderful glimpse into far-off places and times told by somebody who was there.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent re-creation of postwar Berlin, September 6, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Death in Berlin (Paperback)

Death in Berlin takes the reader back to Berlin after the end of W.W.II via the heroine. A typically well written M.M. Kaye mystery, it immerses the reader in Berlin following the war, but before reconstruction. One can feel the grit and smell the dank concrete, overlain with soot and death. Ms. Kaye has the ability to convey the scenery and setting of her books so that the reader's senses are also involved in the story.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars From the 1950's, but still fresh, February 16, 2007

By 

silversurf (Planet of Paint) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Death in Berlin (Paperback)

I didn't know anything about M.M. Kaye, and picked this book up at random while browsing at the library. As I started to read, I was impressed by the author's ability to create an authentic 1950's atmosphere-then I realized it WAS actually written in the early 50's. The book was on the library's "new release" shelf, so I had assumed it was by a modern writer. After laughing at my self, I sat down and read the rest of the book. It would have been worth reading for the author's firsthand observations of post-war Germany, but it was also quite successful as a suspense novel. The only weak point in the story is the characterization of the heroine Miranda, a young fashion model. She starts out as a bit of a stereotypical ingenue right out of a vintage ladies' magazine - the kind of feeble-minded beauty who screams and falls down while running out of a haunted mansion. Fortunately for the reader, Miranda soon begins to develop more depth,learns to decode the behavior of the older people around her, and ends up being fairly interesting in her own right.

The cover blurb compares the author to Agatha Christie, and I suppose that makes some sense,as both writers were British females who wrote mystery novels set in a British upper middle class milieu. But I didn't see much resemblance other than that. I never found any of Christie's characters believable, and her plots were fun but didn't seem to be occurring in the real world. By contrast, the characters in M.M. Kaye's book did seem real, and the suspense was created by an accumulation of small details that gradually work up to a sense of impending doom without ever seeming to go over the top. There were a few (rather annoying) Christie-like touches,with diguises and altered clocks,etc., but for the most part the story works because of the author's psychological insights into her characters' emotions and aspirations.