A Death in Berlin is the third instalment of Simon Scarrow’s excellent Berlin Noir series featuring Criminal Inspector Horst Schenke. A former racing car driver turned police detective.

It’s May 1940, the Second World War is less than a year old and its all quiet on the Western Front, with a “Phoney War”. However, the effects of wartime rationing are starting to be felt in Germany, creating a highly lucrative market in forged ration coupons. When the Kingpin of a notorious Berlin crime ring is murdered, Schenke and his Kripo detectives find themselves in the middle of an escalating gang war to take control of the racket. But it is far from clear whether the murder is connected to the gang war.

Schenke’s investigation draws him increasingly into the corrupting influence of Berlin’s underworld and the Nazi regime. His celebrity as a racing car driver causes him to rub shoulders with the Nazi elite, and there are some interesting cameos from Adolf Hitler and Reinhard Heydrich, and other leading Nazis. Nonetheless, the forged coupons are causing severe shortages in Germany’s wartime economy and the Nazi leadership puts Schenke under pressure to find their source.

Schenke had previously had an ambivalent attitude to the regime he serves believing first and foremost in the rule of law. This begins to change as Schenke sees the Nazis for what they are and also as a result of his developing relationship with Ruth, a Jewish woman living in secret in Berlin. A relationship which means Schenke is breaking the law and is vulnerable, if caught he would be sent to a concentration camp.

The novel continues the underlying theme of the series namely how can an honest man serve a corrupt, despotic regime. Determined to keep his integrity, Schenke has to use all his guile as he undergoes the ultimate character test to keep his honour, while serving a regime just as corrupt as the criminals he is investigating. Schenke must throw the rule book out of the window to survive and protect the woman he loves.

A Death in Berlin is a dark character study focusing largely on Schenke as he is forced to face a terrible situation and make very hard decisions. There is less interplay with the other characters in his team than the first two novels, but there is some nice character engagement between Schenke, Liebwitz an introverted Gestapo man and the hardboiled Sergeant Hauser, developing the dynamic of the supporting cast.