Bernhard "Bernie" Gunther
Bernie Gunther is a fictional character created by British author Philip Kerr. He is the protagonist of the fourteen books of the eponymous serie, set in Germany, France, latin America and elsewhere during the 1920s, the 1930s, the Second World War and the Cold War. Veteran of the World War I, he was a kommissar at the Berlin kriminalpolizei during the Weimar republic. He resigned when the nazis came to power in 1933 and became a private investigator. Despite his opinions, he had to work for notorious historical figures of the nazi era. He had to escape Germany after World War II.
The character of Bernie Gunther, a "true berliner", disillusioned, "sardonic, tough-talking, and cynical" as well as the thorough description of locations and ambiences made one of the most achieved creation in the historical detective fictions of the decades 1990-2010.
Fictional biography
Bernhard Gunther was born on 7 July 1896 in Berlin.As soldier during the World War I, he was a veteran of the Battle of Amiens. He then became a kommissar at the Berlin kriminalpolizei, working under orders of Bernhard Weiss.
The Bernie Gunther saga
Chronological order | Title | Publication date | ISBN | Set in: | Historical figures featuring : | Awards |
1928 | Metropolis. | 2019 | Berlin. | Bernhard Weiss | - | |
1934 | If The Dead Rise Not | 2009 | Berlin | 2009 : CWA Historical Dagger, RBA Prize for Crime Writing, Barry Award | ||
1936 | March Violets | 1989 | Berlin | Goering, Himmler, Heydrich, Arthur Nebe, and Walther Funk | 1993 : Prix Mystère de la critique, Prix du roman d'aventures | |
1938 | The Pale Criminal | 1990 | Berlin | Arthur Nebe, Otto Rahn, Julius Streicher | 2010 : Prix des lecteurs du Livre de poche | |
1939 | Prussian Blue | 2017 | Berchtesgaden and French Riviera | Erich Mielke, Martin Bormann, Gerdy Troost | ||
1941 | Prague Fatale | 2011 | Berlin, Prague | Reinhard Heydrich | - | |
1943 | A Man Without Breath | 2013 | Berlin, Katyn, Smolensk | Joseph Goebbels | 2014 : Palle-Rosenkrantz Prize | |
1943 | The Lady From Zagreb | 2015 | Berlin, Zurich, Croatia and French Riviera | Joseph Goebbels, Dalia Dresner based on Pola Negri/Hedy Lamarr | - | |
1947-1948 | A German Requiem | 1991 | Berlin and Vienna | Arthur Nebe | ||
1949 | The One From the Other | 2006 | Dachau, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Vienna and Mandatory Palestine | Adolf Eichmann | 2009 : Prix Le Point du polar européen | |
1950 | A Quiet Flame | 2008 | Buenos Aires | Josef Mengele | - | |
1954 | If The Dead Rise Not | 2009 | Havana | Meyer Lansky | See 1934 | |
1954 (with flashbacks from 1931, 1941, 1940, & 1945/46. | Field Grey | 2010 | Berlin and Havana | Erich Mielke | ||
1956 | The Other Side of Silence | 2016 | French Riviera | W. Somerset Maugham, Anthony Blunt, Erich Mielke | ||
1957 | Greeks Bearing Gifts. | 2018 | Munich and Greece | Alois Brunner | - |