March 1930: The film business in a process of change. Talking films are taking over the silver screen and many a producer, cinema owner and silent movie star is falling by the wayside.
Celebrated actress Betty Winter is hit by a spotlight while filming a talking movie. At first it looks like an accident. But Superintendent Gereon Rath finds clues that point to murder. While his colleagues suspect the absconded lighting technician, Rath’s investigations take him in a completely different direction – and he is soon left on his own.
A second actress is found dead, leaving the police with a mystery. The cause of death is unclear but there has been an act of violence – The corpse has no vocal chords. Rath is caught between rival film producers, and his investigations take him to Berlin’s Chinese quarters, the underworld – and to the limits of legality. While a street battle develops between Nazis and Communists at Horst Wessel’s funeral, Rath has to steer clear of his superior Böhm who wants to take him off the case. When his father asks him to help Cologne mayor Konrad Adenauer with a case of blackmail, and ex-girlfriend Charly tries to renew their relationship, it all gets too much for Rath.
Volker Kutscher follows on seamlessly from his bestseller Der nasse Fisch and brings 1930s Berlin back to life again in a complex and gripping mystery. He draws readers back into an era that is much closer to the present day than they might expect.
