Resumen
Bernhard Gunther is still in Berlin, but it is now 1947. Berlin is a fallen acropolis. Bernhards wife Kirsten works at Johnnys American Bar. She had been a school teacher. Bernhard Gunther was a Soviet prisoner of war. His ability to speak Russian is useful to his work of private investigation in the aftermath of the Second World War.
He travels from Berlin to Potsdam because he is handling a case for Dr. Novak. Dr. Novak is paying him in coal. On the journey Bernhard has to give up his coat to a Russian. When a war has been fought a city consists of its women. Hunger dulls the wits and blunts the memory. The Russians have an officially licensed black market in their sector of Berlin!
Bernhards wife has access to the PX. Her friendships bother Bernhard. Gunther, with various police personnel, had been drafted into an Action Group operating in White Russia. Not wishing to be part of the mass execution squads, Bernhard sought service at the front. He was transferred to the War Crimes Bureau in Berlin.
Bernie travels to Vienna to investigate the case of Emil Becker, a cigarette seller, among other things. The Central Cemetary in Vienna is larger than some towns. Most Austrians dont like Berliners. Becker is accused of murdering Linden. Bernie links up with an American, Belinsky, supposedly of the counter-intelligence corps, to solve the crime for his client who faces the death penalty. Belinsky is from Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York. It seems that Linden had had contact with some amateur Nazi hunters, the Drexlers.
