Metropolis is the 14th and final installment in the late Philip Kerr's series featuring detective Bernie Gunther. I don't know if the decision to set this story in late 1920s Berlin when Gunther is promoted out of the vice squad to a detective on the Murder Commission was influenced by Kerr's awareness of his bladder cancer prognosis. Kerr composed his Gunther novels chronologically from the early days of the Third Reich through his World War II experiences on the Eastern Front and in France, moving through a succession of novels in foreign countries where Bernie tries unsuccessfully to earn a living and stay alive under assumed names. In the penultimate novel, Greeks Bearing Gifts, he has relocated back to Germany working in a hospital, under an assumed name, caring for cadavers in the hospital's basement before taking a job with a Munich based insurance company and being assigned to investigate a claim in Greece as you might guess from the title.

So Metropolis is a look back to the beginning of the Bernie Gunther character and a well executed summing up of Kerr's series. The Berlin of the late 1920s as told by Kerr makes the Berlin of Cabaret look like a conservative middle American city (which, of course, does not include cities named Chicago). The Nazi Party is on the rise and carrying on a running battle with the Communists. The Social Democrats are heading up a weak, unpopular government under the auspices of the Weimar Constitution. The period of runaway inflation has passed and the 1930s depression has yet to impact the nation's economy. There is rampant anti-Semitism including in many in the ranks of the Berlin police.

As the story unfolds Gunther is being interviewed by the Murder Commission's top cops, Bernhard Weiss and Ernst Gennat known within the department as the Big Buddha. Gennat is the office with the detective chops while his boss Weiss is a lawyer and a Jew who is open to a theoretical approach to criminal justice, but they seem to have a good, collaborative working relationship. Bernie's work in Vice has attracted their mutual attention, and they decide to promote him ahead of one Kurt Reichenbach who seemed to be the next in line for the promotion and who was friends with Gunther and also a Jew.

Bernie is assigned to investigate the serial killing of three Berlin prostitutes which have gotten undue publicity and generated political pressure based on the particularly hideous feature of the murders, specifically killing them from behind with a blow from a hammer and following up by scalping the victims and then leaving behind a clue at the scene of each murder that may or may not turn out to a misdirection play on the part of the murderer. Before Gunther can run down all of the clues and hunches he intends to pursue he is pulled off the prostitutes' murder assignment and tasked with the investigation of another serial murder case. Someone has decided to take out crippled former servicemen who eke out a living begging in Berlin public places especially train stations where there is a large volume of pedestrian traffic on a daily basis. The killer, who has adopted the name "Dr. Gnadenschuss" (meaning coup de grace) sends letters to the major daily papers bragging about his deeds, offering his rationale and ridiculing the ineffective efforts of the police to stop him.

Gunther takes on the new assignment but continues to investigate the prostitutes' murders despite orders from his bosses. Gunther comes to believe that there is a distinct possibility that Winnetou (the nickname of the prostitute killer based on a character in a Western series of novels popular in Germany in that era) and Dr. Genandenschuss (the killer of legless veteran beggars) might be one and the same. As part of his investigation Gunther retrieves a klutz device from the scene of one of the prostitute murders and uses it to impersonate one of the beggars thereby putting himself in harm's way of being shot through the forehead with a.25 caliber Browing pistol. The particular klutz cart Bernie will use is rigged for the usage of a fake beggar pretending to be legless. Think of Eddie Murphy's character in the beginning of the film Trading Places. In order to fit the part Weiss hooks up Bernie with a makeup artist at a Berlin theater where it just so happens rehearsals are in progress of The Threepenny Opera and Bernie is treated to the not so dulcet sounds of Lotte Lenya as part of the rehearsal. He is decidedly unimpressed with the musical and during one session when Lotte parks herself in the area backstage where Bernie is being prepped for that day's street performance of his own, she shares her mutual contempt for the cops in general and Bernie in particular.

Along the way Bernie has occasion to escort Thea von Harbou, the wife of Fritz Lang and the screenwriter of the film Metropolis. Von Harbou is doing research for a film about sex murders similar to the Winnetou case. Bernie talks her out of that plot pointing out that there are a lot of people who consider the victims of these crimes to be part of a problem that needs solving. As he puts it "dead prostitutes in this city are ten for a penny". He suggests that if he was in her position he would choose as his subject a serial child murderer. Et voila we have the theme for Fritz Lang's M, starring Peter Lorre.

Bernie's pursuit of witnesses and suspects takes him to some of the ugliest clubs in the city both clientele as well as management. In one charming club there is an electric chair that is the featured entertainment, and it is live - a far cry from Fraulein Sally Bowles and the divine decadence of the Kit Kat Club. Another joint, the Cabaret of the Nameless, features a creepy master of ceremonies who encourages people with absolutely no talent that they are great, the audience will love them, and their performance will lead to bigger and better opportunities for a career. It goes without saying that they are laughed off the stage, humiliated by an audience of thugs and lowlifes and mentally crushed in the aftermath.

One fatal mistake made by Winnetou is to murder a prostitute who happened to be the daughter of one of the most powerful criminal rings in the city. Bernie and his crooked "friend' track down a witness to her murder and the under the gentle ministrations of the hoodlum obtain a clue that ultimately leads to the ID of Winnetou. More than that I cannot share.

I've read all fourteen of the Bernie Gunter novels, mostly in order, beginning with the Berlin Noir trilogy. I thoroughly enjoined every one of the books and consider Metropolis to be an excellent wrap to the series by going back to beginning in the final installment. R.I.P. Philip Kerr. ( )

Bernie joins the Murder Commission and sets the tone for his future as a thorough but uncompromising detective. Berlin in the 1920/30s was an ugly place even before Hitler took charge. This bleak environment was the template that became the genre for future writers to emulate. Philip Kerr left an indelible mark and high standard for portraying this world. ( )

DNF'ed, after about 50%. Haven't given up on the author/series, but there was just a little too much winking about what the readers know about the future of Germany, but the characters in the setting of 1928 would not know. Plus, no real chapter breaks, which, counterintuitively, just kills the momentum of a thriller for me. Will try reading the series in the order it was published, and see if that gets me hooked.

Set in 1928 Berlin as the Nazis are flexing their muscles but haven't yet gained power. Bernie Gunther joins the Kripo Murder Squad and his first case is a series of murders of prostitutes, but soon finds indifference from senior officers who are more interested in him investigating elsewhere. Bernie being who he is decides to disregard his instructions and finds himself allied to an organised crime ring. Incredible period detail and cast of real characters alongside the author's creations. ( )

Character driven detective story. I guess you had to have read the previous books to really enjoy this one. Sad that there will be no more Bernie Gunther books. ( )