March Violets (Paperback)

by Philip Kerr (Author) "Stranger things happen in the dark dreams of the Great Persuader....." (more)
Key Phrases: Herr Gunther, Von Greis, Herr Six (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
In an "impressive" debut mystery novel, Bernhard Gunther is a hard-boiled Berlin detective hired by a wealthy industrialist to find the murderer of his daughter and son-in-law, killed during the robbery incorrect here.eed theft of a priceless diamond necklace. "Narrator Gunther is a spirited guide through the chaos of 1930s Berlin and, more important, a detective cast in the classic mold," observed PW .
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review
Echoes of Raymond Chandler but better on his vivid and well-researched detail than the master. -- Evening Standard

Kerr’s complex intrigue allows space for brilliantly provoking political asides. -- Sunday Times

Taut, brutal, coarse, believable and gripping stuff. -- Sunday Telegraph

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (July 27, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0142004146
• ISBN-13: 978-0142004142
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #494,055 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars As good a detective novel as you will ever read, January 3, 2006

By	Grey Wolffe "Zeb Kantrowitz" (North Waltham, MA United States) - See all my reviews

From page one the strength of narrative and the wisecracking of the PI Bernhard "Bernie" Gunther is a detective novel readers dream. Philip Kerr is able to bring 1936 Berlin alive it all it's nationalistic insanity. His ability to describe how the Nazi party had taken total control of this nation is remarkable.
He has picked-up the nuance of how people delude themselves into believing what they are told, no matter how implausible.

Right from the start you know that Gunther is as cynical as you can be, without being arrested by the Gestapo (which he is at a later point of the book). The way he weaves the disillusionment of the average German, while at the same time showing how they just acquiest to what was going on. Unlike most books about Germany at this time, he presents the Nazi's as people not cardboard cutouts. He does, though, show them in all their sadism and brutality. But it is a brutality that has become humdrum and expected. No one is surprised by what is going on. Everyone is just hoping it doesn't happen to them.

Especially appealing is Gunther's gumshoe comments and asides as to what is going on. At one point he gets out of his car and gives the "Hitler salute" when the party standard is paraded by. His comment, "it's not worth taking a beating for not saluting". He tells of a circulating joke, that next to Jews, Hitler hates homosexuals and cripples the most. The punch line is that everyone but Hitler knows that his Minister of Propaganda, Joseph "Joey" Goebbels has a club foot.

You can just imagine Robert Mitchum or Humphrey Bogart playing this "fleabite" PI. He drinks, he smokes, and he's like a junkyard dog when it comes to doing his job. There are great descriptions of the war between Reichfurher Himmler, the head of the Gestapo and SS and Prime Minister of Prussia Hermann Goering.

The ending, is just a pregnant pause, we know that there are two more books in the "Berlin Noir" trilogy, and that's the way that Kerr leaves us at the end of this book. You know you have to read the other two.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars 3 1/2 Stars -- An Old-School Crime Noir Set In Prewar Berlin Under The Nazis!, May 24, 2008

By	bobbewig (New Jersey, USA) - See all my reviews

If you enjoy/enjoyed the old-school crime novels with characters like Raymond Chandler, Philip Marlowe or Sam Spade, you'll enjoy March Violets, which is set in Berlin in 1936 and features tough-talking, hard-drinking, chain-smoking and cynical Bernhard Gunther. Gunther is an ex-cop, now private investigator hired by a rich businessman to find some jewelry that was stolen, and which had belonged to the businessman's recently murdered daughter. In addition, Gunther is "requested" by Herman Goering to find some important missing papers. I found Kerr's description of prewar Berlin and life in Nazi Germany to be very good, and considered the plot to be engrossing. These two elements are worthy of a 4- 4 1/2 star rating. What brought my overall rating of March Violets down to 3 1/2 stars is that I found that Kerr went somewhat overboard in portraying Gunther's tough guy attitude and in having Gunther speak ad nauseum in cliches. At times, I felt that Kerr was trying to create a satire of the type of detective novels that were popular in the '30s, '40s and '50s. March Violets is a good book that held my attention, and created enough interest to make me want to read the next book in Kerr's Berlin Noir trilogy. However, unless you are a lover of crime noir books, March Violets is not a book that I'd recommend you rush out to buy and put at the top of your To Be Read list.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars brilliant start to a wonderful triliogy, May 10, 2005

By	SpyGirl (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

March Violets is a brilliant start to a great trilogy. The descriptions of wartime and post-war occupied Germany mixed with hard-boiled detective fiction is facinating. Geared more towards the fans of good old detective noir than for the fans of cold-war spy thrillers.