Philip Kerr Popular Books

Philip Kerr Biography & Facts

Philip Ballantyne Kerr (22 February 1956 – 23 March 2018) was a British author, best known for his Bernie Gunther series of historical detective thrillers. Early life Kerr was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, where his father was an engineer and his mother worked as a secretary. He was educated at a grammar school in Northampton. He studied at the University of Birmingham from 1974 to 1980, gaining a master's degree in law and philosophy. Kerr worked as an advertising copywriter for Saatchi & Saatchi before becoming a full-time writer in 1989. In a 2012 interview, Kerr noted that he began his literary career at the age of twelve by writing pornographic stories and lending them to classmates for a fee. Career A writer of both adult fiction and non-fiction, he is known for the Bernhard "Bernie" Gunther series of 14 historical thrillers set in Germany and elsewhere during the 1930s, the Second World War and the Cold War. He also wrote children's books under the name P. B. Kerr, including the Children of the Lamp series. Kerr wrote for The Sunday Times, the Evening Standard, and the New Statesman. He was married to fellow novelist Jane Thynne; they lived in Wimbledon, London, and had three children. Just before he died, he finished a 14th Bernie Gunther novel, Metropolis, which was published posthumously, in 2019. Awards and honours In 1993, Kerr was named in Granta's list of Best Young British Novelists. In 2009, If the Dead Rise Not won the world's most lucrative crime fiction award, the RBA Prize for Crime Writing worth €125,000. The book also won the British Crime Writers' Association's Ellis Peters Historic Crime Award that same year. His novel, Prussian Blue, was longlisted for the 2018 Walter Scott Prize. Death Kerr died at age 62 from bladder cancer on 23 March 2018. Publications Novels Bernie Gunther "Berlin Noir" "Bernie Gunther" trilogy, republished 1993 by Penguin Books in one volume. ISBN 978-0-14-023170-0. March Violets. London: Viking, 1989. ISBN 0-670-82431-3, set in 1936 The Pale Criminal. London: Viking, 1990. ISBN 0-670-82433-X, set in 1938 A German Requiem. London: Viking, 1991. ISBN 0-670-83516-1, set in 1947–48 Later "Bernie Gunther" novels The One from the Other. New York: Putnam, 2006. ISBN 978-0-399-15299-3, set in 1949 (intro set in 1937) A Quiet Flame. London: Quercus, 2008. ISBN 978-1-84724-356-0, set in 1950 and 1932-33 If the Dead Rise Not. London: Quercus, 2009. ISBN 978-1-84724-942-5, set in 1934 and 1954 Field Grey. (Field Gray in USA) London: Quercus, 2010. ISBN 978-1-84916-412-2, set in 1954 with flashbacks from 1941, 1931, 1940, & 1945/46. Prague Fatale. London: Quercus, 2011 ISBN 978-1-84916-415-3, set in 1941 A Man Without Breath. London: Quercus, 2013. ISBN 978-1-78087-624-5, set in 1943 The Lady from Zagreb. London: Quercus, 2015. ISBN 978-1-78206-582-1, set in 1942–3, with framing scenes in 1956. The Other Side of Silence. London: Quercus, 2016. ISBN 978-1-78429-514-1, set in 1956 Prussian Blue. London: Quercus, 2017. ISBN 978-1-78429-648-3, set in 1939, with framing scenes in 1956 Greeks Bearing Gifts. London: Quercus, 2018. ISBN 978-1-78429-652-0, set in 1957 Metropolis. London: Quercus, 2019. ISBN 978-1-78747-321-8, set in 1928Scott Manson novels January Window. London: Head of Zeus, 23 October 2014. ISBN 1784082538, 978-1784082536 ASIN B00KX96D3G Hand of God. London: Head of Zeus, 4 June 2015. ASIN B00PULYUSW False Nine. London: Head of Zeus, 5 November 2015. ASIN B00UVK10AS Stand alone novels A Philosophical Investigation. London: Chatto & Windus, 1992. ISBN 0-7011-4553-6 Dead Meat. London: Chatto & Windus, 1993. ISBN 0-7011-4703-2 Gridiron (vt US The Grid). London: Chatto & Windus, 1995. ISBN 0-7011-6248-1 Esau. London: Chatto & Windus, 1996. ISBN 0-7011-6281-3 A Five Year Plan. London: Hutchinson, 1997. ISBN 0-09-180165-6 The Second Angel. London: Orion, 1998. ISBN 0-7528-1443-5 The Shot. London: Orion, 1999. ISBN 0-7528-1444-3 Dark Matter: The Private Life of Sir Isaac Newton. New York: Crown, 2002. ISBN 0-609-60981-5 Hitler's Peace. New York: Marian Wood, 2005. ISBN 0-399-15269-5 Prayer. London: Quercus, 2013. ISBN 978-1782-06573-9 The Winter Horses. New York: Knopf, 2014. ISBN 978-0-385-75543-6 Research. London: Quercus, 2014. ISBN 978-1782-06577-7 1984.4. Hamburg: Rowohlt Verlag, 2021. ISBN 978-3499218576Non fiction The Penguin Book of Lies. 1991;1996 The Penguin Book of Fights, Feuds and Heartfelt Hatreds: An Anthology of Antipathy. 1992;1993Children's fiction (as P. B. Kerr) Children of the Lamp The Akhenaten Adventure. London: Scholastic Press, 2004. ISBN 0-439-96365-6 The Blue Djinn of Babylon. London: Scholastic Press, 2005. ISBN 0-439-95950-0 The Cobra King of Kathmandu. London: Scholastic Press, 2006. ISBN 0-439-95958-6 The Day of the Djinn Warriors. London: Scholastic Press, 2007. ISBN 978-1-4071-0365-5 The Eye of the Forest. London: Scholastic Press, 2009. ISBN 978-0-439-93215-8 The Five Fakirs of Faizabad. London: Scholastic Press, 2010. The Grave Robbers of Genghis Khan. London: Scholastic Press, 2011.Stand alone fiction One Small Step. London: Simon & Schuster, 2008 (paper). ISBN 978-1-84738-300-6 The Most Frightening Story Ever Told. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2016. ISBN 978-0-553-52209-9 Friedrich der Große Detektiv (Frederick the Great Detective). Rowohlt Verlag, 2017. ISBN 978-3-499-21791-3Notes External links Official Philip Kerr website Bernie Gunther fansite Interview in Shotsmag Ezine 2011 Interview with Philip Kerr about Kerr's relationship with Berlin.. Discover the Philip Kerr popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Philip Kerr books.

Best Seller Philip Kerr Books of 2024

  • If the Dead Rise Not synopsis, comments

    If the Dead Rise Not

    Philip Kerr

    Detective Bernie Gunther navigates two corrupt regimes in this “richly satisfying mystery...that evokes the noir sensibilities of Raymond Chandler and Ross Macdonald while bre...

  • Prayer synopsis, comments

    Prayer

    Philip Kerr

    Acclaimed for his historical mysteries, the New York Times bestselling author of the Bernie Gunther series seamlessly shifts to a presentday setting in this ...

  • Arctic Sun synopsis, comments

    Arctic Sun

    Jack Grimwood

    From the awardwinning author, of Moskva and Nightfall Berlin, comes this mesmerising suspense thriller. Kola Peninsula, 1987. High in the Soviet Arctic, a tiny village houses an ap...

  • A Quiet Flame synopsis, comments

    A Quiet Flame

    Philip Kerr

    In this riveting historical mystery novel from New York Times bestselling author Philip Kerr, Bernie Gunther trails a serial killer in 1950’s Buenos Aires... Buenos Aires, 195...

  • The One from the Other synopsis, comments

    The One from the Other

    Philip Kerr

    In the fourth mystery in Philip Kerr's New York Times bestselling series, Bernie Gunthera former policeman and reluctant SS offierattempts to start over in the aftermath of World W...

  • Dead in the Water synopsis, comments

    Dead in the Water

    Mark Ellis

    'This is to my shame the first Mark Ellis book I've read. If the others evoke a vanished London so impressively, are graced with such complex plots and deep characterisation, and, ...

  • Field Gray synopsis, comments

    Field Gray

    Philip Kerr

    This Edgar® Awardnominated novel in Philip Kerr’s New York Times bestselling Bernie Gunther series reveals the cynical, hardboiled detective’s harrowing history as an unwillin...

  • The Debacle synopsis, comments

    The Debacle

    Émile Zola

    Conservative and workingclass, Jean Macquart is an experienced, middleaged soldier in the French army, who has endured deep personal loss. When he first meets the wealthy and mercu...

  • The Snowmelt River synopsis, comments

    The Snowmelt River

    Frank P. Ryan

    Four teenagers are drawn from an Irish mountaintop into an enchanted land and gifted with great powers: but with power comes responsibility, and a vast evil has noticed their arriv...

  • The Languedoc Trilogy synopsis, comments

    The Languedoc Trilogy

    Kate Mosse

    Kate Mosse's internationally bestselling Languedoc Trilogy now in a single eBook format.LABYRINTH1209. Seventeenyearold Alaïs Pelletier is given a mysterious book by her father, w...

  • Dead of Night synopsis, comments

    Dead of Night

    Simon Scarrow

    As Germany strangles under the tight grip of the Nazi Party, the frozen winter of 1940 brings even more reasons to fear the dark in the crackling new WWII crime novel from #1 Sunda...

  • Blackout synopsis, comments

    Blackout

    Simon Scarrow

    #1 Sunday Times bestselling author “Atmosphere, sharp intrigue, and a host of fascinating characters all combine to make this one the next addition to your keeper shelf." Steve Ber...

  • Panic Room synopsis, comments

    Panic Room

    Robert Goddard

    ‘Is this his best yet?...Full of sinister menace and propulsive pace with twisty plotting’ Lee ChildWHAT REALLY LIES WITHIN?High on a Cornish cliff sits a vast uninhabited mansion....

  • Saturday Bloody Saturday synopsis, comments

    Saturday Bloody Saturday

    Alastair Campbell & Paul Fletcher

    Football manager Charlie Gordon is struggling with one defeat after another at the club he loves. Only a decent Cup run is keeping him in work, but tensions are running close to th...

  • A German Requiem synopsis, comments

    A German Requiem

    Philip Kerr

    PostWorld War 2, Bernie Gunther investigates the murder of an American Nazihunter amongst the ruins of the Third Reich in this riveting thriller in Philip Kerr's bestselling histor...

  • The Lady from Zagreb synopsis, comments

    The Lady from Zagreb

    Philip Kerr

    In this Edgar® Awardnominated novel in Philip Kerr’s New York Times bestselling series, former detective and unwilling SS officer Bernie Gunther is on the hunt for a beautiful...

  • Letters from the Dead synopsis, comments

    Letters from the Dead

    Sam Hurcom

    'Gothic, claustrophobic, and wonderfully dark' GUARDIAN on Sam Hurcom's Thomas Bexley novels...The next stifling, atmospheric gothic crime novel following one of the world's first ...

  • The Pale Criminal synopsis, comments

    The Pale Criminal

    Philip Kerr

    Hardboiled detective Bernie Gunther takes on a depraved serial killer terrorizing 1930's Berlin in the second gripping mystery in Philip Kerr’s New York Times bestselling seri...

  • Berlin Noir synopsis, comments

    Berlin Noir

    Philip Kerr

    Now in one volumethe first three novels in Philip Kerr’s New York Times bestselling historical mystery series starring hardboiled detective Bernie Gunther...“A Chandleres...

  • The Murderer in Ruins synopsis, comments

    The Murderer in Ruins

    Cay Rademacher & Peter Millar

    SHORTLISTED FOR THE CWA INTERNATIONAL DAGGER AWARD 2016'Undoubtedly the most powerful work of crime fiction I have read this year' Independent'Vivid and harrowing' Sunday Times'Pol...

  • A Man Without Breath synopsis, comments

    A Man Without Breath

    Philip Kerr

    From the national bestselling author of Prague Fatale, a powerful new thriller that returns Bernie Gunther, our sardonic Berlin cop, to the Eastern Front. Berlin, March, 1943. A m...

  • Leaving Berlin synopsis, comments

    Leaving Berlin

    Joseph Kanon

    New York Times Notable Book Named one of NPR and Wall Street Journal's Best Books of the Year The acclaimed author of The Good German “deftly captures the ambience” (The New York...

  • The Accomplice synopsis, comments

    The Accomplice

    Joseph Kanon

    Named “The Book of the Year” by Lee Child in The GuardianFrom “master of the genre” (The Washington Post) and author of Leaving Berlin, a heartpounding and intelligent espionage no...

  • Moskva synopsis, comments

    Moskva

    Jack Grimwood

    Longlisted for the 2017 CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger for best thriller'Even better than Child 44' Daily Telegraph'Given that the definitive thriller in 1980's Moscow already exist...

  • Balcony Over Jerusalem synopsis, comments

    Balcony Over Jerusalem

    John Lyons

    A gripping memoir of life in Jerusalem from one of Australia's most experienced Middle East correspondents.Leading Australian journalist John Lyons will take readers on a fascinati...

  • The Doll Princess synopsis, comments

    The Doll Princess

    Tom Benn

    Winner of the Sunday Times Charlotte Aitken Young Writer of the Year AwardIt's Manchester, July 1996, the month after the IRA bomb, and the Evening News is carrying reports of two ...

  • She synopsis, comments

    She

    H. Rider Haggard

    On his twentyfifth birthday, Leo Vincey opens the silver casket that his father has left to him. It contains a letter recounting the legend of a white sorceress who rules an Africa...

  • Metropolis synopsis, comments

    Metropolis

    Philip Kerr

    New York Timesbestselling author Philip Kerr treats readers to his beloved hero's origins, exploring Bernie Gunther's first weeks on Berlin's Murder Squad.A portrait of Bernie Gunt...

  • Island Reich synopsis, comments

    Island Reich

    Jack Grimwood

    AN UNLIKELY SPY. A FORMER KING. THE FATE OF A NATION IN THEIR HANDS.The gripping WWII thriller from the awardwinning author of Nightfall Berlin, perfect for fans of Simon Scarrow'I...

  • The Other Side of Silence synopsis, comments

    The Other Side of Silence

    Philip Kerr

    When Bernie Gunther takes on a blackmail case and gets involved in the affairs of British spies, the former detective risks exposing his own dark past in this thrilling novel ...

  • Prussian Blue synopsis, comments

    Prussian Blue

    Philip Kerr

    When his cover is blown, former Berlin bull and unwilling SS officer Bernie Gunther must reenter a catandmouse game that continues to shadow his life a decade after Germany’s ...

  • Capital Crimes synopsis, comments

    Capital Crimes

    Max Décharné

    Over seven centuries London has changed dramatically from walled medieval settlement to bustling modern metropolis. But throughout its history there has been one inescapable const...

  • The Forger synopsis, comments

    The Forger

    Cay Rademacher & Peter Millar

    SHORTLISTED FOR THE CWA INTERNATIONAL DAGGER AWARD 2019 Hamburg, 1948In a routine operation, Chief Inspector Frank Stave is shot down. He survives, but transfers from the murder co...

  • Prague Fatale synopsis, comments

    Prague Fatale

    Philip Kerr

    Former detective and reluctant SS officer Bernie Gunther must infiltrate a brutal world of spies, partisan terrorists, and highlevel traitors in this “clever and compelling”(The Da...

  • The Wolf Children synopsis, comments

    The Wolf Children

    Cay Rademacher & Peter Millar

    Book Two of the Inspector Frank Stave Investigations, a German detective trilogy set in postWWII Hamburg. More than 150,000 copies sold.Hamburg, 1948It is a year of extremes. Aft...

  • Greeks Bearing Gifts synopsis, comments

    Greeks Bearing Gifts

    Philip Kerr

    A vicious murder puts Bernie Gunther on the trail of World War 2 criminals in Greece in this riveting historical thriller in Philip Kerr's New York Times bestselling series.Munich,...

  • Nightfall Berlin synopsis, comments

    Nightfall Berlin

    Jack Grimwood

    'Noteperfect, multilayered, rugged as a T34 tank. Grimwood is about to become your new favourite thriller writer' IndependentA tense, atmospheric and breathtaking thriller that dro...

  • Red Cavalry and Other Stories synopsis, comments

    Red Cavalry and Other Stories

    Isaac Babel, Efraim Sicher & David McDuff

    Throughout his life Isaac Babel was torn by opposing forces, by the desire both to remain faithful to his Jewish roots and yet to be free of them. This duality of vision infuses hi...

  • March Violets synopsis, comments

    March Violets

    Philip Kerr

    THE FIRST NOVEL IN PHILIP KERR’S ACCLAIMED HISTORICAL MYSTERY SERIES   When private investigator Bernie Gunther agrees to track down some stolen jewels, his search takes him d...

  • In The Shadows synopsis, comments

    In The Shadows

    Gilles Boyer & Édouard Philippe

    Loved House of Cards?'Utterly fascinating.' Perlustra'Absolutely brilliant.' BertrandHe thought the worst was behind them. The primaries done and dusted. The Presidency within ar...

  • A Philosophical Investigation synopsis, comments

    A Philosophical Investigation

    Philip Kerr

    A terrifyingly prescient cult classic by the bestselling author of the Bernie Gunther series. “Chilling...absorbing...part technothriller, part futuristic detective story...