Prague Fatale - (Bernie Gunther Novel) by Philip Kerr (Paperback)

About the Book

1941: Reinhard Heydrich is hosting a gathering to celebrate his new position. All are high-ranking Party members and each is a suspect in a crime as yet to be committed. A complex tale of spies, partisan terrorists, vicious infighting, and a turncoat traitor situated in the upper reaches of the Third Reich.

Book Synopsis

Former detective and reluctant SS officer Bernie Gunther must infiltrate a brutal world of spies, partisan terrorists, and high-level traitors in this "clever and compelling"(The Daily Beast) New York Times bestseller from Philip Kerr.

Berlin, 1941. Bernie is back from the Eastern Front, once again working homicide in Berlin's Kripo and answering to Reinhard Heydrich, a man he both detests and fears. Heydrich has been newly named Reichsprotector of Czechoslovakia. Tipped off that there is an assassin in his midst, he orders Bernie to join him at his country estate outside Prague, where he has invited some of the Third Reich's most odious officials to celebrate his new appointment. One of them is the would-be assassin. Bernie can think of better ways to spend a beautiful autumn weekend, but, as he says, "You don't say no to Heydrich and live."

Review Quotes

Praise for Philip Kerr and the Bernie Gunther Novels

"A brilliantly innovative thriller writer."--Salman Rushdie

"Philip Kerr is the only bona fide heir to Raymond Chandler."--Salon.com

"In terms of narrative, plot, pace and characterization, Kerr's in a league with John le Carré."--The Washington Post

"Every time we're afraid we've seen the last of Bernie Gunther, Philip Kerr comes through with another unnerving adventure for his morally conflicted hero."--Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review

"Just as youth is wasted on the young, history is wasted on historians. It ought to be the exclusive property of novelists--but only if they are as clever and knowledgeable as Philip Kerr."--Chicago Tribune

"Kerr quantum leaps the limitations of genre fiction. Most thrillers insult your intelligence; his assault your ignorance."--Esquire

"A richly satisfying mystery, one that evokes the noir sensibilities of Raymond Chandler and Ross Macdonald while breaking important new ground of its own."--Los Angeles Times

"Part of the allure of these novels is that Bernie is such an interesting creation, a Chandleresque knight errant caught in insane historical surroundings. Bernie walks down streets so mean that nobody can stay alive and remain truly clean."--John Powers, Fresh Air (NPR)

"The Bernie Gunther novels are first-class, as stylish as Chandler and as emotionally resonant as the best of Ross Macdonald."--George Pelecanos

"Kerr's stylish noir writing makes every page a joy to read."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

About the Author

Philip Kerr was the New York Times bestselling author of the acclaimed Bernie Gunther novels, three of which--Field Gray, The Lady from Zagreb, and Prussian Blue--were finalists for the Edgar Award for Best Novel. Kerr also won several Shamus Awards and the British Crime Writers' Association Ellis Peters Award for Historical Crime Fiction. Just before his death in 2018, he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. As P.B. Kerr, he was the author of the much-loved young adult fantasy series Children of the Lamp.