The One From the Other by Philip Kerr

In my opinion, this is his best yet.  I would yield to Pat Nolan in these matters, if necessary.  Kerr covers ground that is far more interesting to “Amis” [Americans]: specifically “the Jewish problem”, Ami-support of post-war Nazis, and the Communist menace.

I might also add that Gunther is far more a Chandler-esque detective in this book than the pre-war tough guy.  I can’t imagine the Krippo cop, before the war, turning in the ubiquitous gorgeous blonde after he may have sullied her reputation: post-50’s, he’s capable of shooting her if she warrants it.

This is clearly not modern and not now: Bernie would be 119 years old, so dial it back 70 years to 1949, when Bernie Gunther has turned 40.  He buries a second wife; can’t remember how many women he’s had; or men he has killed: a jaded, cynical man.

In true noir form, he’s continually sapped and has his money stolen.  I loved every page of it.  He covers a lot of territory; and runs into a lot of “top” Nazis.  This turns out to be a hodge-podge of good short stories, linked together, skillfully, by a good author, who has come into his seniority.

Hey, he’s playing to his audience, and succeeding, he’s good.  But we’re getting to the end of the saga.  Bernie is now closing in on sixty.  For you and me, these days, that’s still young.  But through experiences as a cop with KRIPO, a private detective in Berlin, and as an SS “specialist”; Bernie is no longer to be played by Matt Damon in the movies, maybe, at best, Clint Eastwood, and that’s if Clint is bank-rolling the picture.

What makes it worth the read, is that Clint [or Bernie] really has American values and doesn’t know it: resists it.  He hates the Amis as much as the Ivans; he’s German through and through:

 alt-Deutsche, not Hoch-Deutsche, more like Weimar Deutsche.