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Homicide inspector Axel Berg is looking for a murderer in the city of Munich, Germany in the 1920s. When wealthy married Anna Gross is found strangled in a public park, her hair and body arranged in a graceful way, Berg is called in to investigate. Anna happens to be married to a wealthy Jewish man and Berg's bosses and colleagues are more than happy to point to the husband as the murderer. The times are hard and there is unrest and violence, and political emotions can be set off by anything. His superior, Hauptkommissar Martin Volker is being pressed to find a man to pin the murders on and he in turn, orders Berg to make an arrest of anyone to keep things quiet. Berg isn't happy about it, but he follows orders. Berg, though not the cleanest of cops, has too much pride in his job to let it rest and when another well-to-do woman is found killed, in the exact same way and near where Anna Gross was killed, he's determined to find the real guilty party, even if his life is put into danger because of it. As ongoing violence erupts between the fanatical political sects in the city, the police have their hands full. Yet another young woman is murdered and the case is used as a cry for change and for violence. Adolf Hitler and his Brownshirt party begin to get stronger, pulling thousands into their rallies. Soon Munich is a hotbed of unrest with Berg's unsolved case is in the middle of the whirlwind. But Berg continues to investigate, not caring who comes under his gaze, no matter how rich, how powerful or how famous. He's willing to give his all to solve the case, and soon his life is in severe danger. STRAIGHT INTO DARKNESS is a change for author Faye Kellerman, who is well-known for her Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus series. This story is based in Munich of the 1920s and Kellerman's extensive research into that time shines though in every page. She immerses the readers into that turbulent era until we can't help but feel that we too are living there. Since her characters come from every segment of the population she manages to make the mindset of the strange time tangible, real and even, to some extent, understandable. The story also shows a meticulous standard for a police procedural, the clues and facts in every turn of the case are clear, logical and solid. STRAIGHT INTO DARKNESS is a finely-crafted and well-written book. Don't miss it.
Reviewed by Sharon Katz, August 2005
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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