Shadow and Light Book

This is the second adventure - after the excellent Rosa - of Berlin police detective Nikolai Hoffner. It is now 1927 and our hero is called in to investigate the apparent suicide of a movie executive at the renowned Ufa studios and needless to say, Herr Hoffner smells a rat. Before it's all said and done, Nikolai - and the reader - get a glimpse inside the burgeoning movie industry - particularly the evolution from silent movies to "talkies" - the Berlin underworld - and it's seamy - and the Nazi Party - including Joseph Goebbels. Our hero also falls in love and reconnects with his two sons - both now young men. The unfolding mystery is Chandler-esque in its complexity and geopolitical in its ramifications. Herr Hoffner is described elsewhere as an anti-hero - which I think is too strong a label. Suffice it to say he is no knight in shining armor - jaded, cynical, pessimistic and haunted, and well aware of his faults/shortcomings. In short a fascinating protagonist.

This is an excellent historical novel/mystery with a great feel for time and place - Weimar Germany - a cast of well-developed characters including Hoffner's love interest, his sons and a crime boss Nikolai teams up with to name just a few - as well as Fritz Lang, his wife and a young Peter Lorre. Not a quick read, but an engaging one nonetheless, noir at its best. Highly recommended.