The Inconvenient German

In Steiner’s solid third Willi Geismeier mystery (after 2021’s The Constant Man), the former Munich cop is now a key player for a secret organization that helps people escape Nazi Germany. In 1944, Geismeier’s operation to get American pilot Charlie Herder, shot down near Munich, into France goes awry when its cover is blown, and Herder and a guide are killed as they make their way to the border. Geismeier tries to track down the murderers for months and is still on the case when the war ends and he returns to police work. Finally, he zeroes in on a shady Nazi collaborator who, like many wartime criminals, dabbled in an assortment of dark undertakings while maintaining a veneer of respectability. The fine descriptions of life in the resistance movement and the details of day-to-day existence for most Germans under Nazi rule make up for some jerky storytelling and subplots that do nothing to enhance the main story line. Steiner also skillfully takes a wider lens in portraying the bleak, often lawless landscape Germans faced in the ruins after the war. Fans of Philip Kerr’s Bernie Gunther will want to take a look. Agent: John Silbersack, Bent Agency. (Nov.)