PRUSSIAN BLUE by Philip Kerr, Hachette.

The only thing better than one Bernie Gunther outwitting enemies is two. In 1939, he’s a Berlin detective investigating a murder on the terrace of Hitler’s country home, the Berghof. In 1956, he’s up against East German assassins. And along the way our clever, honest detective finds himself as a “madman among the very mad”, his “own life-preserving compromises staring back like friends I’d shamefully betrayed”. Pre-war Bernie discovers a Berchtesgaden in which smoking is banned, rife with prostitution and amphetamine use. He makes use of Pervitin, the local drug of choice: “It was odd how it made you feel impatient and intolerant and even a bit superhuman – like a Nazi.” Kerr’s writing crackles with the desperation of a man up against a hideous history in the making.