The Basis for the International TV Sensation Babylon Berlin One of CrimeReads 's Favorite Crime Books of the Year (Selected by Paul French) Volker Kutscher, author of the international bestseller Babylon Berlin , continues his Gereon Rath Mystery series with Goldstein as a police inspector investigates the crime and corruption of a decadent 1930s Berlin in the shadows of the growing Nazi movement. Berlin, 1931. A power struggle is taking place in Berlin's underworld. The American gangster Abraham Goldstein is in residence at the Hotel Excelsior. As a favour to the FBI, the police put him under surveillance with Detective Gereon Rath on the job. As Rath grows bored and takes on a private case for his seedy pal Johann Marlow, he soon finds himself in the middle of a Berlin street war. Meanwhile Rath's on-off girlfriend, Charly, lets a young woman she is interrogating escape, and soon her investigations cross Rath's from the other side. Berlin is a divided city where two worlds are about to collide: the world of the American gangster and the expanding world of Nazism. “[Kutscher's] trick is ingenious...He's created a portrait of an era through the lens of genre fiction.”― The New York Times Praise for the Gereon Rath series: "Volker Kutscher’s Babylon Berlin series is like the love child of Christopher Isherwood and Raymond Chandler." ―Paul French, CrimeReads (Favorite Crime Books of the Year) "The first in a series that's been wildly popular in Germany is an excellent police procedural that cleverly captures the dark and dangerous period of the Weimer Republic before it slides into the ultimate evil of Nazism."― Kirkus Reviews "Gereon's inquiries drag him through the mire of Berlin's underworld and the chaos of the politics of the period. Riveting and atmospheric."― Library Journal "James Ellroy fans will welcome Kutscher’s first novel and series launch, a fast-paced blend of murder and corruption sent in 1929 Berlin. Kutscher keeps the surprises coming and doesn't flinch at making his lead morally compromised."― Publishers Weekly (starred review) "Conjures up the dangerous decadence of the Weimar years, with blood on the Berlin streets and the Nazis lurking menacingly in the wings."― The Sunday Times (London) "Gripping evocative thriller set in Berlin's seedy underworld during the roaring Twenties. A massive hit in its native Germany, Volker Kutscher's series, centered on Detective Inspector Gereon Rath, is currently being filmed for television."― Mail on Sunday (London) VOLKER KUTSCHER was born in 1962. He studied German, philosophy, and history, and worked as a newspaper editor prior to writing his first detective novel. Babylon Berlin , the start of an award-winning series of novels to feature Gereon Rath and his exploits in late Weimar Republic Berlin, was an instant hit in Germany. The series was awarded the Berlin Krimi-Fuchs Crime Writers Prize in 2011 and has sold more than one million copies worldwide and was adapted as a 12-part Netflix miniseries by Tom Tykwer (director of Cloud Atlas and The International ). He lives in Cologne. Goldstein Book 3 of the Gereon Rath Mystery Series By Volker Kutcher, Niall Sellar Picador Copyright © 2010 Volker Kutscher All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-250-20634-3 Contents Title Page, Copyright Notice, Epigraph, Part I: Crime, Part II: Punishment, Part III: CODA: Escape, Also by Volker Kutscher, About the Author, Copyright, CHAPTER 1 The place smelled of wood and glue and fresh paint. She was alone with the darkness and the silence, with only her breathing and the faint tick of the watch in her jacket pocket for company. The man seemed to have disappeared again, yet she decided to wait a little longer, stretching to get the blood flowing through her arms and legs. At least there were no coat hangers on the rail; she could see a chink of light through the crack in the door. She took the watch from her jacket pocket. It was just gone nine. The night watchman would soon be completing his rounds on the sixth floor. Confirmation came with the grinding of the lift, echoing so loudly through the darkness that she gave a start. It was time. He was on his way back down, and in the next few hours would only be concerned with the roller grilles in front of the doors and display windows, with making sure that everything was locked and no one could break in. Alex carefully opened the wardrobe and peered out. Better safe than sorry, Benny always said. The neon signs on Tauentzienstrasse shone so much colour through the windows there was no need for a torch. She could see everything: the luxurious show bedroom, with a bed wide enough for a whole family and a carpet so soft her feet sank into it. When she thought back to the scratchy coconut matting in front of the bed she had shared with her little brother, Karl, when she was still living with her parents, in digs that were as murky as they were cramped ...