the murderer in ruins

by Cay Rademacher

Skillfully Written.

The Murderer in Ruins by Cay Rademacher.

Reviewed by L. C. Mcgee, author of The Amber Crow Series, TwoNewfs Publishing.

I ran across the author’s first book, The Murderous Mistrial and found it intriguing. The protagonist, Roger Blanc, formerly of the Paris gendarmerie, is now working in Provence. Monsieur Blanc is an ‘expert detective’ in a delightful place and meeting a variety of interesting people. I was hooked. I’d found another excellent and innovative mystery writer, whose stories are involved and complex.

Back to The Murderer in Ruins. The place, Hamburg Germany 1947, and the Brits are occupying the city. Chief Inspector, Frank Stave has a series of murders to solve. Through the eyes of the persistent Inspector, the reader views a monstrous cold winter, and the starkness and misery after the bombings.

The interplay between the German survivors and the occupying Britons is revealing; many unique situations and individuals are engendered from these involvements. This book is a must read if you enjoy a grim, but realistic journey into the past. Mr. Rademacher’s Hamburg stories are gripping as they are based on real situations that occurred after WWII.

All Rademacher’s books are skillfully written. In the Inspector Stave series, he provides the reader with a fully different feel and tone than his Provence novels.

Too, I appreciated the amount of research, documentation, and explanation of events at the end of the novel.

P.S. The second book in the series, The Wolf Children, is also a fantastic read, and based on facts.                        

Review by L.C.M.