A Quiet Flame: A Bernie Gunther Novel

Posing as an escaping Nazi war-criminal Bernie Gunther arrives in Buenos Aires and, having revealed his real identity to the local chief of police, discovers that his reputation as a detective goes before him. A young girl has been murdered in peculiarly gruesome circumstances that strongly resemble Bernie’s final case as a homicide detective with the Berlin police. A case he had failed to solve. Circumstances lead the chief of police in Buenos Aires to suppose that the murderer may be one of several thousand ex Nazis who have fetched up in Argentina since 1945. And, therefore, who better than Bernie Gunther to help him track that murderer down? Redolent with atmosphere, this novel ends up asking some highly provocative questions about the true extent of Argentina’s Nazi collaboration and anti-semitism under the Perons.

Reviews of A Quiet Flame: A Bernie Gunther Novel

Kerr brilliantly evokes the edgy atmosphere of the post-war period in one of the most gripping and accomplished detective novels published this year – Sunday Times Cogently plotted odyssey…cracking stuff – The Times One of the great achievements of contemporary crime fiction…powerful and impressive – Observer