Hitler's Angel [Hardcover]

Kristine Kathryn Rusch (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1998

A haunting novel from Hugo-winner Rusch investigates a crime that could have changed history

Kris Rusch is a household name in the world of science fiction and fantasy. With Hitler's Angel, she departs from her usual subject matter to write a gripping crime novel set in Germany on the eve of Adolf Hitler's ascension.

This much is true: Hitler had an affair with his niece, Geli Raubal. On the night of September 19, 1931, Geli was found, dead of a gunshot wound, in Hitler's apartment. Her death was ruled a suicide, but the suspicion of murder has remained.

Rusch begins in Munich in 1972, when a young American woman criminologist comes to interview Fritz Stecher, one of Germany's most famous detectives. The young American finds the German reluctant to discuss anything but the case that forced his retirement, about which no one in the world has heard. For this young woman, Fritz goes back to 1931, just before Hitler's rise, to his investigation of Geli's death -- though he did not know, could not have known, that what he did determined the course of history.

Rusch's taut, suspenseful novel is a fascinating exploration of the might-have-beens of this dark and fateful time.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In Hitler's Angel, author Kris Rusch gathers the usual suspects: there's Eva Braun and Rudolf Hess and of course the future führer himself. But rather than put them at the center of her novel, Rusch relegates them to cameo appearances only and hands the starring role to the fictional Fritz Stecher, a cop investigating the death of Hitler's beloved niece, Geli Raubal. The relationship between uncle and niece has been the subject of speculation for decades--everything from incest to murder has been suggested, but the facts are these: Hitler and the 23-year-old Geli lived together in a house in Munich, and in 1931, she died, the apparent victim of a suicide. Historians may debate the circumstances; novelists have the freedom to imagine answers. Rusch's solution to the riddle of young Geli Raubal's death is at the heart of this dark novel, encompassing both Hitler's tangled personal relationships and his cutthroat political rivalries. Told from the perspective of a now-elderly Stecher, Rusch's tale not only speculates on what might have happened, but also hints at what might have been if Hitler's career had been derailed early on by scandal.

From Kirkus Reviews

Munich, 1972. Annie Pohlmann, working on a Harvard dissertation on police procedures, is interviewing Fritz Stecher, retired Detective Inspector of the Kripo, about his pioneering work in forensic investigation, when a chance question no earlier interviewer had ever thought to ask himwhy did he retire prematurely over 40 years ago?opens a Pandora's box of revelations about his last case. The victim: Angela Raubal, niece of National Socialist party leader Adolf Hitler, shot to death in her uncle's apartment. By the time Stecher and his men arrived on the scene, the body had already been spirited away to discreet interment in Vienna, leaving behind only a brusque note from the Bavarian minister of justice, Franz Grtner, identifying Geli Raubal's death as suicide. But none of the evidence Stecher turned upthe time of Geli's death, her broken nose, the shocking signs of earlier beatings, the indications that Hitler was her loverconfirmed this verdict, even though the more he pressed, the more emphatic the denials grew. Eventually Stecher, haunted by his own wife's death, set the case aside, just in time for Hitler's election as Chancellor in 1933. Now he's finally ready to face the truth. SF/fantasy veteran Rusch turns the real-life story of Geli's death into a workmanlike parable with little mystery, since the solution is as predictable as the Had-I-But-Known moral. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 213 pages
• Publisher: St Martins Pr; 1st edition (May 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312154984
• ISBN-13: 978-0312154981
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,578,962 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars worth reading, September 5, 1998

By 

Robert Spencer (Portland, Oregon United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hitler's Angel (Hardcover)

I have some problems with this book..the ending revelations about Fritz's past, the judgements of Fritz on the American character are not inaccurate, but a bit repetitive, and the "hitler in all of us" idea is dabatable, and will be debated for a long time. But this novel does succeed in several ways, particularly in showing how devasted the world of the German was after WWI, and it depicts well the political labyrinth of german society before Hitler actually took full power in 1933. The story was engrossing and intelligent, the world depicted is complex and interesting. There were many times and ways Hitler could have been stoped by the Germans, the plain and tragic fact was that he was not stopped until 50 million people had died violent deaths as a result of the german people following him. As insane or not as Hitler may have been, he did not effect the Holocaust or unleash history's bloodiest war by himself...millions and millions of Germans willingly followed him into this moral hell, and millions more in Europe and even for a time, America, acquiesed in the horror. We, after all, bombed Dresden weeks before the war's end, killing a hundred thousand civilians when we could have been bombing the rail lines to the camps. One great success of this book is that it does not avoid the moral ambiguities of the time. Worth reading.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific thought-provoking novel!!, August 9, 2002

By 

Ash Quadir (Swedesboro, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hitler's Angel (Hardcover)

This is a very thought provoking novel about something that has been losts in the mists of time - and had the potential to change history and save millions of lives. The character Fritz is very well done. He's "real" and "flawed" - but evokes the reader's sympathy. The use of flashbacks to tell the story of his investigation of the death of Hitler's niece works very well. I couldn't put this novel down. At times it was almost lyrical. I am deeply impressed by Krish Rusch's writing. She is a very, very good writer. This novel will spur me to read more of her novels. Do yourself and read Hitler's Angel!!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good but not great pre-WWII mystery, June 7, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Hitler's Angel (Hardcover)

In 1972, Annie Pohlman, a criminology student, travels to Munich to interview the legendary German homicide detective of the 1930's, Fritz Stecher, who desperately needs to tell someone about the case of Geli Raubal. In 1931, Geli is found dead in Hitler's apartment. The official ruling is suicide. Since Hitler is only one of several competing politicians trying to rise to the top and Fritz's superiors loathe the Nazi, they assign him to quietly investigate the murder.

Almost immediately, Fritz decides that circumstantial evidence points towards murder, probably arranged or even done by Hitler. As Fritz gets closer to learning the truth, he finds his own life in danger from Hitler's Brown Shirts, who want the investigation stopped so that their leader's rising political power does not abruptly crumble. Fritz also has problems with the government, especially with the Ministry of Justice. If Fritz is to successfully complete his most difficult case, he will have to proceed with great caution and incredible speed.

The premise behind HITLER'S ANGEL is quite clever (a real case from the 1930's) and the use of flashbacks works exceedingly well. Fritz, who tells the entire story, is a great senior citizen, who seems grandfatherly and wise. However, Annie is not well-developed and Fritz's apartment seems lacking as a backdrop with Munich preparing for the Olympics just outside the building. Kris Rusch shows her highly regarded fantasy story telling ability easily crosses genres into the historical mystery realm, but what could have been a classic falls a bit short. Still, this very good book is worth reading by fans of the writer and readers of historical mysteries.

Harriet Klausner.