For fans of history, this glimpse of Munich society in the 1920s will be a much-treasured event. The story revolves around an art-gallery manager who puts on a show featuring the scandalous works of a woman artist who committed suicide. He is unjustly accused of having committed adultery with her, and for some reason the authorities decide to make an example of him. He is imprisoned at about the same time that Hitler and the nascent Nazi party attempt the infamous Beer Hall Putsch, and the gallery manager's girlfriend and a Swiss writer valiantly (and unsuccessfully) attempt to get better justice for him. Nobody in authority, it seems, has the courage to take up the challenge of righting this particular injustice.
Leo Perutz' thriller deals with the persecution of a psychotic murderer in Vienna in 1909 who seems to lead his victims into a brilliantly hidden form of suicide.
The yacht of millionaire Hellmann explodes in the Mediterranean Sea, with him and 8 men crew on board. Insurance agent Lucas investigates at the Cote D'Azur, because there's the suspicion that it could have been suicide. He finds out that Hellmann's villa was monitored, the tapes also contain information about the explosion. He uses them for blackmail.
Germany during the Cold War, a boy has fled Czechoslovakia. Star reporter Walter Roland investigates the background. In the process, he uncovers a plot: Western and Eastern agents are on the hunt for the Warsaw Pact's deployment plans against NATO, which a Czech officer has taken out of the country.
In Spring of 1945, the Wehrmacht forces are weary from retreat, while the Allies are closing in. A single Austrian captain attempts to guide what is left of his platoon behind the Russian lines to surrender to the Americans. They take under their wing a young man with a severe disability. As the loyalty of his men is brought to the test, the captain grows closer to the boy who evokes a deep secret from his past in the Nazi Reich.
