cover image The Divided City

The Divided City

Luke McCallin. Berkley, $16 trade paper (448p) ISBN 978-0-425-28291-5

Set in Berlin in 1947, McCallin’s third novel featuring German detective Gregor Reinhardt (after 2014’s The Pale House) is his best yet. Reinhardt left the Berlin police force before WWII to escape the Nazis, but even after their defeat he finds it difficult to resume his former duties. He’s still unable to “bend with the wind, to find accommodation with whatever force or power that held sway.” That inflexibility is a hindrance when two male corpses are found in a building in the city’s American sector. One was badly injured before breaking his neck in a fall down some stairs. The other, identified as a Mr. Noell, was asphyxiated in his apartment and displayed in what appears, to Reinhardt, to be a ritual manner reminiscent of another recent killing. The inquiry takes an unexpected turn after the first victim is identified as a British officer. The handling of the investigation turns into a test of the new postwar Berlin police force in this engrossing mystery. [em]Agent: Peter Rubie, FinePrint Literary Management. (Dec.) [/em]