Mysteries in September and Pick of the Month

I read five books in September and all of them were mysteries. I was working on a very long non-fiction book during the month, but I think this was just one of my slow reading months.

For the second month in a row, all of the books I read were set in earlier times. Three of them are historical mysteries, and the others were vintage mysteries. I enjoyed all of the books I read this month.

The mysteries I read this month were:

1. The One from the Other by Philip Kerr
2. A Quiet Flame by Philip Kerr
3. Lament for the Bride by Helen Reilly 
4. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
5. The Tattoo Murder Case by Akimitsu Takagi

The Crime Fiction Pick of the Month meme is hosted at Mysteries in Paradise. Bloggers link to summary posts for the month, and identify a crime fiction best read of the month.


My favorite book of this month was... The One from the Other by Philip Kerr.

This book was the fourth in a series about Bernie Gunther, a private detective in post-war Germany. He is a former policeman who was in the military in the Great War and in World War II. Gunther was the protagonist of three earlier books by Philip Kerr, published in 1989, 1990, and 1991. Together they were republished as a trilogy: Berlin Noir. I read that trilogy six years ago. This month I picked up the series again, reading the fourth and fifth books in the series.

Like the first three books, The One from the Other is written in the hard-boiled style of Raymond Chandler, told in first person narrative and loaded with similes. I liked everything about this book. The story, the setting, the portrayal of the characters. The overall feeling of the book is gloomy and resigned; the picture of Germany at the time is depressing. Nevertheless, it was a pleasure to read.