March Violets

This was a great period detective thriller -- but an excessively graphic one. Mr. Kerr earns high points for his research and detail but the rape scene was, in my mind, too much. If anything will keep me from purchasing his books in the future, it is the nightmares that I have had after listening to the graphic details of that scene.

This is a very entertaining story. The hero is a classic 1930s detective, the story moves nicely along, but the best part was the setting -- Germany 75 years ago. It was completely captivating.

I love a good mystery or thriller, and I love any novel set in the WWII era. And John Lee is perhaps my favorite narrator. So this book seemed to have all the right elements. But as it turns out, it's more of a detective novel than a thriller. Not my cup of tea.

If you like the classic Raymond Chandler, you'll love this book. It's well written an well narrated, and seems to be an homage to that 40's Noir style. But I didn't enjoy it as much as I'd expected.

Philip Kerr is one of the very best. Think literary thriller (like John Le Carre) combined with a big dash of hard boiled attitude (like Raymond Carver). The detective navigates an increasingly Nazi-fied Berlin, trying to stay below the Nazi radar while maintaining a private stance of utter contempt for the rising regime. The story has plenty of twists and plenty of turns, but the atmosphere and characters are the real spell-binders. Highly recommended.

Narration is great.

You won't want to stop listening to what is one of the best historical thriller written. Nazi Germany provides the background. The writing is Chandler quality. If you like historical thrillers - don't miss this one.

One of the best historical fiction audiobooks I've heard. I could not wait to find out how the detective was going to unravel this case. Nice story, good twists and turns that kept the story very interesting. I was a bit remiss about the ending, but hey I guess you can't have it all.

A good noir crime novel that pays tribute to the Hammett and Chandler tradition. However, it fails to convey a real sense of place and the narrator mispronounces German place names so badly that they are often almost unrecognizable which, of course, makes the characters speaking them unbelievable. John Lee does a very good job otherwise; couldn't he have been coached a little on this?

An LA type PI in Nazi Germany. Lots of possible material to grow and build new books. A very good start.
If it gets a little dirty and colorful at times, I guess that is the way it could have been. The ending caught me by suprise.

fairly clever plot, enjoyed the historical evocation of an era, one of my favorite narrators

the second in the series, already listening

yes...about the same. at least he doesn't try to fake a german accent

ridiculous question

the corny tough-guy dialogue and overblown similes became quite tiresome. also, the sex scenes....could definitely do without...i'm not a prude but they detract and are completely pointless.

this was a noir detective yarn, set in pre-war Germany. I was hoping for something like Alan Furst, but on the contrary, the characters were cutouts, the villains predictable, and the narration cringeworthy. Gratuitous violence, too.

No