Shaina Steinberg is the author of the Bishop & Gallagher Mysteries, as well as a film and television writer who’s worked on Malcolm in the Middle, Everwood, Cold Case, Bionic Woman, and Spartacus. Named to the Young and Hungry List in 2013 and the WriteHer List in 2017, she has developed pitches, pilots and features with companies such as Temple Hill, Endgame Entertainment, Fremantle, eOne, Blondie Girl, Josephson Entertainment and Alcon.
At The Strand Magazine she tagged five mystery books set in the aftermath of World War Two. One title on the list:
A German Requiem by Philip KerrRead about another novel on the list.
Set in post-war Berlin and Vienna, Kerr does an incredible job of making this time period come alive, with all its inherent dangers and double-dealings.Bernie Gunther, the former police man last seen in 1938 in The Pale Criminal, has endured the war, stood up to the SS, gotten captured by the Russians and put into a POW camp. He is now home with his wife, who makes certain sacrifices to keep them fed, while he sews razor blades into his jacket to avoid casually being killed for his watch. The city is a grim, gritty place.
Bernie, feeling especially low, is hired to prove his former co-worker Emil Becker innocent of killing an American soldier. The offer includes a sizeable paycheck and a temporary escape to Vienna. Nothing is as it seems while the Americans and the Russians vie for supremacy in both Austria and the whole of Europe. People with competing agencies and various motives keep Bernie guessing as more and more people die.
--Marshal Zeringue
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