Philip Kerr's Books | Crime Books

Biography

Religious Upbringing

Born in Edinburgh in 1956, Philip Kerr was the son of a religious couple. Initially, members of the Free Church of Scotland, they converted to become Baptists. They believed it was more family-friendly. His relationship with religion did not go well.

“I could not swim or even bear to have my head underwater and, consequently, the spectacle of full immersion baptism – and by extension, the very idea of washing away the sin that was required to make my peace with Jesus – was horrifying to me… Jesus and I were not going to get along.” (The Guardian)

The Power of Words

As a child, he read widely. On one occasion, he found a copy of Lady Chatterley’s Lover — the subject of an obscenity trial against the publisher — that his parents had hidden away. He decided that he wanted to take it to school to educate his friends. Knowing that his parents would miss it inspired him to write a racy story of his own, “The Duchess of the Daisies”. He lent it to his school friends overnight for a small fee. When his father found out, he made Philip read his novel to his mother. She only lasted the first few lines before leaving the room. If nothing else, this made Kerr realise how powerful words could be.

Fascinated by German History

Kerr went on to study English at the University of Birmingham. After working on a Kibbutz, he returned to Birmingham to complete a master’s degree in German Jurisprudence. This led to a fascination with modern German history.

Becoming a Writer

He ducked a career as a lawyer and started work as a copywriter. After publishing the first of his Bernie Gunther novels, March Violets, he became a full-time author. He released two more Gunther Novels in short order, creating The Berlin Noir Trilogy. From there, Kerr turned his attention to other projects, including a future-noir novel, A Philosophical Investigation, for which Granta named him as one of its Best Young British Novelists. He also wrote a series of football whodunnits and children’s adventure stories.

Bernie Gunther

Fans continued to ask him to return to Berlin, which he did after fifteen years. Kerr wrote a further 11 novels about the German policeman turned private investigator.

Philip Kerr’s books tell of the horrors of Nazi Germany and one man’s attempts to make his way in life. Bernie Gunther scorns the Nazi party but realises that he must fit in to survive. Kerr takes that core dilemma and deluges it with the realities of the Third Reich.

“The [German] National Socialist regime had a weird and perverted idea of crime… It was far more interested in rounding up Jews and Communists than in solving real crimes. And they spent a lot of time covering up true crime when it did happen so that it didn’t reflect badly on the authorities.” (The Rap Sheet)

Kerr used this backdrop to write a series of classic hard-boiled crime novels, with dialogue to match.

Looking round the room I found there were so many false eyelashes flapping at me that I was beginning to feel a draught.
Philip Kerr – March Violets

Being a Berlin cop in 1942 was a little like putting down mousetraps in a cage full of tigers.
Philip Kerr – The Lady From Zagreb

Research and Reward

Kerr researched his novels extensively. The Dead Rise Not won both the Ellis Peters Award for historical crime fiction and the most lucrative crime fiction prize in the world, the €125,000 RBA Prize for Crime Writing.

At the end of each book, he added notes about factual characters and places. These highlighted both his research and gallows humour. One of these notes recounts the fate of a 1930s nightclub he had used in the story. It drew in the crowds with a talent show where the host persuaded the deluded and pathetic onto the stage. He promised them their showbiz break. In reality, they were there so others could gloat at their misfortune.