Babylon Berlin

James Ellroy fans will welcome Kutscher’s first novel and series launch, a fast-paced blend of murder and corruption set in 1929 Berlin. Det. Insp. Gereon Rath has been transferred after his role in a controversial fatal shooting to Berlin’s vice squad, a move arranged by his influential father, a legendary police officer, to keep him out of trouble. Against the backdrop of widespread unrest resulting from clashes between the police and Communist demonstrators, Rath gets involved in a murder inquiry after the corpse of an unidentified man is retrieved from the Landwehr canal. The dead man was battered with a hammer, but died from a heroin overdose before he entered the water. The plot thickens when Rath learns that Stalin has sent agents to Berlin to search for a huge trove of gold rumored to be in the city that could be used to fund counterrevolutionary efforts to topple him. Kutscher keeps the surprises coming and doesn’t flinch at making his lead morally compromised. (May)