The Lady From Zagreb

By: Philip Kerr

Narrated by: John Lee

Length: 12 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's Summary

From New York Times best-selling author Philip Kerr, the much-anticipated return of Bernie Gunther in a series hailed by Malcolm Forbes as "the best crime novels around today".

A beautiful actress, a rising star of the giant German film company UFA, now controlled by the Propaganda Ministry. The very clever, very dangerous propaganda minister - a close confidant of Hitler, an ambitious schemer and flagrant libertine. And Bernie Gunther, former Berlin homicide bull, now forced to do favors for Joseph Goebbels at the propaganda minister's command.

This time the favor is personal. And this time nothing is what it seems.

Set down amid the killing fields of Ustashe-controlled Croatia, Bernie finds himself in a world of mindless brutality where everyone has a hidden agenda. Perfect territory for a true cynic whose instinct is to trust no one.

©2015 Philip Kerr (P)2015 Penguin Audio

Critic Reviews

"On any continent, in any decade, no one does melancholy better than Bernie Gunther, and melancholy, after all, is the hard-boiled mystery fan's emotion of choice." (Booklist)

"Kerr is the only bona fide heir to Raymond Chandler." (Jonathan Ames, Salon)

"Bernie isn't one of those detectives who gets to solve crimes and put things right. Instead, he just tries to behave decently in a world where the serial killers run the governments and history itself may be the biggest crime of all." (John Powers, NPR's Fresh Air)

AT LAST!

Mr. Kerr, Thank you, sir, for this joyous godsend from your literary treasure trove. You answered your fan's uproarious "request" for a reunion of Bernie Gunter and John Lee. Bravo! What a delicious (long awaited) treat: Bernie never missed a droll retort nor failed to launch a zinger at his detested Nazi bosses. Your working Bernie's story line with the major corporate sponsors (Mercedes Benz) and über maniacs (Goebels) of WW II makes the novel blaze like kristallnacht. Thank you.

Narrator John Lee's return makes the difference.

Philip Kerr is to Berlin Noir what Patrick O'Brien is to Napoleonic war novels. That is to say he is the benchmark for all others. And adding John Lee as narrator also sets the mood for such a somber. Period of history. It is amazing how the author continues to captivate us with interesting locales, more sinister characters based on real villains, and the ability to make the reader aka listener feel like we're a fly on the wall. I hope there are many more to come all with John Lee as narrator! He is perfect for this series. If Lee were given the chance to record any of the books that he did not previously narrate, I would go back and buy them all!

John Lee is back!

So glad John Lee is back as the narrator in this series. Classic Philip Kerr/Bernie Gunther at its best.

Too much wisecracking : a comedy or a thriller ?

I was looking forward reading a new Bernie Gunther novel after the rather poor deeds of Kerr in other books (like Research). The Lady of Zagreb left me with mixed feelings. I enjoyed the historical setting and the way the writer depicts life in Germany, Croatia and Switzerland during the Second World War. The dialogues are sharp and the plot captivating –although a bit convolute. On the other hand, unlike the first books of the Bernie’s series, Kerr is overplaying the wise-cracking aspect of the main character and the reading of John Lee seems to overemphasize this aspect so that Bernie Gunther comes across more as a smartass comedian than a military detective operating in very dramatic circumstances. This obviously takes away also a bit of drama and suspense from the story.
All in all an enjoyable reading overall; look forward to a better book next time.

Great to have Bernie Gunther back

Except for some graphic violence near the end of the first half which other sensitive listeners may want to skip over, this book was very engaging. The plot had lots of surprises, but ones that actually made the story make more sense. I had times I couldn't put the book down, which doesn't happen too often for me. We're far enough from WW2 now that drawing in real people in historically correct ways doesn't seem like a gimmick, because, after all, there would always have been details of their lives we wouldn't have known and why not these ones? That enhanced the fictional story for me. There were aspects of history the author included that are very relevant to today's news which further enriched the story. As far as I remember, I liked this Bernie Gunther book as much as any of the others, perhaps even more. As always, John Lee was so outstanding it seemed unthinkable that the different voices were actually being done by one person.

noir humor adds up to a sensational thriller

I don't give out many 5* reviews, but this look inside the Third Reich, and Dr. Goebbel's lair rates it.

Good to be back in Berlin with Bernie.

Any additional comments?

When you've lived life through with this great Nazi hating dick for a while - this is the 10th Bernie Gunther novel by Kerr - you begin to really enjoy his breath and pace, like the last drag of a smoke on the firing line, Bernie might say. He loves similes. This book is more of a love story than a detective novel, and really it's more of a rumination on the Faustian nature of bargaining and re-bargaining your way through Hitler's Struggle. Survival with a grain of dignity preserved, if even only preserved in high octane grain alcohol or with the fine leading grain of a few well placed bullets. Keeps a man feeling like a man. But nothing will make a man of you more than falling for and - of course - losing that lovely Lady From Zagreb.

Pleased to see Bernie Gunther back.....

Returns to a familiar time WW2 jaded, cynical detective is one of my fave characters. Was kind of lost with some of Philip Kerr's recent offerings, recommend the whole series for Noir fans.

Bernie keeps on

This Bernie book is set during the war and takes place in Berlin, Switzerland, and Yugoslavia. As usual Bernie finds himself in some tough spots as he tries to stay alive and survive the war. As usual there is a female that he finds himself attracted to that plays a central part in the book. But, to me, hearing about the different aspects of the war; that Germany might have invaded Switzerland, the ugly fighting in Yugoslavia, the underhand dealing at the top of Nazi power, it all makes for a great story.

Only okay

Kerr's research is spot on as usual. This novel suffers from to many plot threads which the author then attempts to tie up tightly, if not plausibly. Multiple times I thought (hoped) I was at the end when one more thread solution was offered. These explanations added nothing to the plot. Bernie was okay, if a bit tired. John Lee's narration was workman-like. I have one carp: In this reading, as in previous ones he absolutely refuses to attempt to pronounce German word in other than an anglisized fashion. This leads to I an, I presume, unintended vulgarism with is pronounciation of German word for jewelry.