Berlin 1927: when an executive at the newly-famous Ufa film studios is found dead in his bath, it falls to Chief Inspector Nikolai Hoffner, of the Kriminalpolizei to investigate. With the help of the German film director Fritz Lang and the head of the most powerful crime syndicate, Hoffner finds his case reaches deep into Berlin's sex and drug trade, and into the political world of Hitler's Brownshirts (the SA). Caught up in this story is Hoffner's new lover, and his two sons, one of whom works for Joseph Goebbels. We last met Hoffner in Rosa (2007); his relationship with his sons develops menacingly in Shadow and Light.

Review

"Morose, self-loathing Nikolai Hoffner, chief inspector in Weimar Berlin's Kriminalpolizei, was first introduced in Rosa, in which he investigated the murder of German Communist Rosa Luxemburg. It's now 1927, and Hoffner is called in to investigate the death of a German film magnate-a murder disguised to look like suicide. The story that follows is convoluted, tricky, and at times confusing, but it grips the reader's attention throughout. In the end, Hoffner solves the murder, but there is no feeling of triumph, so much does he lose en route. He has a love affair that never gets off the ground, and he won't let the son who loves him get close. His other son, who hates him, joins Herr Doktor Goebbels and his nasty crowd, just then becoming a force in German politics. Rabb's second entry in his German trilogy is both a first-rate historical novel and a singularly artful crime noir that will remind readers of Alan Furst (The Spies of Warsaw). That's good company! Enthusiastically recommended for public collections." David Keymer - Library Journal

Author Biography

Jonathan Rabb is a full-time novelist who lives in New York City. Widely translated, he is rapidly becoming known as one of the strongest voices in thrillers. Now published by prestigious Farrar Straus in the US.