Greeks Bearing Gifts

one

There was a murderous wind raging through the streets of Munich when I went to work that night. It was one of those cold, dry Bavarian winds that blow up from the Alps with an edge like a new razor blade and make you wish you lived somewhere warmer, or owned a better overcoat, or at least had a job that didn't require you to hit the clock at six p.m. I'd pulled enough late shifts when I'd been a cop with the Murder Commission in Berlin so I should have been used to bluish fingers and cold feet, not to mention lack of sleep and the crappy pay. On such nights a busy city hospital is no place for a man to find himself doomed to work as a porter right through until dawn. He should be sitting by the fire in a cozy beer hall with a foaming mug of white beer in front of him, while his woman waits at home, a picture of connubial fidelity, weaving a shroud and plotting to sweeten his coffee with something a little more lethal than an extra spoonful of sugar.

Of course, when I say I was a night porter, it would have been more accurate to say that I was a mortuary attendant, but being a night porter sounds better when you're having a polite conversation. "Mortuary attendant" makes a lot of people feel uncomfortable. The living ones, mostly. But when you've seen as many corpses as I have you tend not to bat an eyelid about being around death so much. You can handle any amount of it after four years in the Flanders slaughterhouse. Besides, it was a job and with jobs as scarce as they are these days you don't look a gift horse in the mouth, even the spavined nag that had been bought for me, sight unseen, outside the doors of the local glue factory by the old comrades in Paderborn; they got me the job in the hospital after they had given me a new identity and fifty marks. So until I could find myself something better, I was stuck with it and my customers were stuck with me. I certainly didn't hear any of them complaining about my bedside manner.

You'd think the dead

Philip Kerr was the New York Times bestselling author of the acclaimed Bernie Gunther novels, three of which-Field Gray, The Lady from Zagreb, and Prussian Blue-were finalists for the Edgar Award for Best Novel. Kerr also won several Shamus Awards and the British Crime Writers' Association Ellis Peters Award for Historical Crime Fiction. Just before his death in 2018, he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. As P.B. Kerr, he was the author of the much-loved young adult fantasy series Children of the Lamp.

Praise for Greeks Bearing Gifts

"A terrifically complex tale ... a beautifully written novel by a gifted writer who has left us too soon." - Washington Post

"It doesn't take much to get swept into Gunther's latest adventure or taken in by his darkly witty commentary." - Chicago Tribune

"Every bit as powerful and atmospheric and addictively page-turning as all the ones that came before it."- Christian Science Monitor

"For bereft Kerr aficionados, this is a draught of vintage, as themes of redemption
are grippingly explored." - The Guardian

"Bernie Gunther...is back - which is good news for all readers... What makes this latest Bernie book notable is how it strikes a series of authentic notes." - The Washington Times

"Beyond Marlowe, though, there's Bernie...Bernie's internal demons have always provided the compelling drama in this series, and here we loyal supporters are granted a ray of hard-won hope. It provides a great moment in an always-riveting series." -Booklist, starred review

"In typical top form, Kerr provides valuable insights into the times...Inspired by real people and events, the latest novel by the celebrated author of the Berlin Noir trilogy is a deep but breezy work in which even the most trustworthy characters can harbor dark secrets."-Kirkus Review, starred review

"An outstanding historical thriller steeped in intrigue with a superb narrative, pace, and characterization."-Library Journal, starred review

"Once again, Kerr shows Bernie contending bravely if futilely against powerful forces whose full evil becomes clear only at the end."-Publishers Weekly

"Greeks Bearing Gifts is the 13th Bernie book, each of them a polished gem of unsentimental detective writing echoing Chandler and Hammett in spirit, if not language. ... The entire series of books balances on the shoulders of Bernie Gunther, surely one of the most likable and confounding characters in modern detective fiction - or, it should be said, in contemporary