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The Pale Criminal
- 138 statements
- 25 feature instances
- 2 referencing feature instances
The Pale Criminal | type |
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The Pale Criminal | |
The Pale Criminal | page |
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The Pale Criminal | comment |
The Pale Criminal is a 1990 novel by Philip Kerr. It is the second novel in the Bernhard "Bernie" Gunther detective series.Berlin, 1938, two years after the events of March Violets. The specter of war looms as Hitler is demanding that Czechoslovakia turn over the Sudetenland to Germany. Bernie Gunther is still working as a private detective. He's taken on a partner, his old police buddy Bruno Stahlecker, who has left the "Kripo" (criminal police) because he isn't an enthusiastic enough Nazi. They catch a case, when a wealthy publisher, Frau Lange, engages their services. Her son, Reinhard, is a homosexual, which in Nazi Germany is a criminal offense punishable by detention in a concentration camp. Someone has stolen the letters that Reinhard sent to his lover, noted psychiatrist Lanz Kindermann, and is selling them back to Frau Lange, one at a time.That investigation reaches a sudden, violent end. Bernie, however, soon gets an entirely different case. None other than Reinhard Heydrich essentially forces Bernie to return to the Kripo to investigate a serial killer case. Someone has been going around Berlin, raping and murdering teenaged girls. Heydrich forces Bernie back into the police and charges him with hunting down and catching the killer. Bernie discovers a dark conspiracy with connections to the blackmail case.The second book in the original "Berlin Noir" trilogy of Bernie Gunther novels, proceeded by March Violets and followed by A German Requiem. | |
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Dropped link to AutoeroticAsphyxiation: Not a Feature - UNKNOWN | |
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Dropped link to Blackmail: Not a Feature - ITEM | |
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The Pale Criminal / int_19f527df | type |
Blowing Smoke Rings | |
The Pale Criminal / int_19f527df | comment |
Blowing Smoke Rings: The BdM girl (basically, Nazi Girl Scouts) who comes to Bernie's door collecting funds, blows "a perfect smoke-ring" in an effort to look more grown-up, as she's playing coquette for Bernie. | |
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The Pale Criminal / int_1f250372 | type |
I Need a Freaking Drink | |
The Pale Criminal / int_1f250372 | comment |
I Need a Freaking Drink: Nebe tells Bernie that Josef Kahn, the Jew who was tortured into confessing to the killings, was murdered by the government in the T-4 "euthanasia" program. After Bernie reacts to this by pinching his nose and talking about how he gets headaches, Nebe pours two drinks. Bernie pours himself a glass of brandy after accidentally overhearing Kindermann and Rahn engaging in gay sex. | |
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The Pale Criminal / int_1f250372 | |
The Pale Criminal / int_20860a0e | type |
Punch-Clock Villain | |
The Pale Criminal / int_20860a0e | comment |
Punch-Clock Villain: Arthur Nebe is portrayed as this, as a man who has become disillusioned with Nazism and hopes to "change things from the inside". Given the ghastly crimes Nebe committed during the war this seems dubious, but he was part of the plot to kill Hitler in 1944. | |
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The Pale Criminal | hasFeature |
The Pale Criminal / int_20860a0e | |
The Pale Criminal / int_2dddd99d | type |
False Flag Operation | |
The Pale Criminal / int_2dddd99d | comment |
False Flag Operation: A particularly depraved one. There is no serial killer, not really. The series of murders is part of "Project Krist", a secret op by Rahn, Kindermann, and Weisthor, in which they murder German girls in a ritualistic way. They will then pin the murders on the Jews and use them as an excuse to start a pogrom. | |
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The Pale Criminal | hasFeature |
The Pale Criminal / int_2dddd99d | |
The Pale Criminal / int_4b1afa0d | type |
Spiteful Spit | |
The Pale Criminal / int_4b1afa0d | comment |
Spiteful Spit: Hildegarde spits in Bernie's face when he refuses to hit her during sex. | |
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The Pale Criminal / int_4cb7f0d8 | type |
Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome | |
The Pale Criminal / int_4cb7f0d8 | comment |
Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome: Bruno, Bernie's old cop buddy who is an important character in March Violets, returns as Bernie's new partner. He is killed in Chapter 5 when the surveillance of the blackmailer goes horribly wrong. | |
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The Pale Criminal / int_5c219298 | type |
Phony Psychic | |
The Pale Criminal / int_5c219298 | comment |
Phony Psychic: Karl Weisthor is a fake medium. He pretends to commune with the ghost of Emmeline Steininger, and reveals the location of her body. It's all part of a plot to pin the murders on the Jews and start an anti-Semitic pogrom. | |
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The Pale Criminal | hasFeature |
The Pale Criminal / int_5c219298 | |
The Pale Criminal / int_63c6a75c | type |
Evil Lawyer Joke | |
The Pale Criminal / int_63c6a75c | comment |
Evil Lawyer Joke: When Frau Lange says she doesn't care much for lawyers, Bernie agrees, saying "I never met a lawyer yet that wasn't above stealing his mother's savings and the mattress she was keeping them under." | |
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The Pale Criminal | hasFeature |
The Pale Criminal / int_63c6a75c | |
The Pale Criminal / int_7b3ebb57 | type |
Buxom Beauty Standard | |
The Pale Criminal / int_7b3ebb57 | comment |
Buxom Beauty Standard: Once again, Bernie Gunther shows his appreciation for a nice rack. He admires the "pendulous breasts" of a nurse at the mental hospital. Frau vom Hofe, the psychotherapist who profiles the killer, has "fine breasts which strained at the material of her blouse." | |
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The Pale Criminal | hasFeature |
The Pale Criminal / int_7b3ebb57 | |
The Pale Criminal / int_86e12b9a | type |
City Noir | |
The Pale Criminal / int_86e12b9a | comment |
City Noir: Another tale of Berlin under the Nazism, as Hitler's evil befouls everything, with crime and corruption and brutality in every level of society and government. | |
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The Pale Criminal / int_86e12b9a | |
The Pale Criminal / int_99f2522e | type |
Hit Me, Dammit! | |
The Pale Criminal / int_99f2522e | comment |
Hit Me, Dammit!: It turns out that Hildegarde is a masochist. They're about to have sex when she says "Hurt me, Bernie. Use me....Hurt me when I tell you." When he refuses to, she dumps him. | |
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The Pale Criminal | hasFeature |
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The Pale Criminal / int_9a1d239e | type |
Been There, Shaped History | |
The Pale Criminal / int_9a1d239e | comment |
Been There, Shaped History: As the Author's Note explains, Otto Rahn and Karl Weisthor both resigned from the SS, Rahn soon died under mysterious circumstances, and Julius Streicher was kicked out of office due to being too much of a scumbag even for the Nazis. These events, which happened in Real Life, are in the book due to Bernie's investigation. | |
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The Pale Criminal | hasFeature |
The Pale Criminal / int_9a1d239e | |
The Pale Criminal / int_9dab0a6e | type |
Continuity Nod | |
The Pale Criminal / int_9dab0a6e | comment |
Continuity Nod: When summoned to Gestapo headquarters, Bernie remembers being detained there in March Violets. | |
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The Pale Criminal | hasFeature |
The Pale Criminal / int_9dab0a6e | |
The Pale Criminal / int_9f80e1da | type |
Sarcasm Mode | |
The Pale Criminal / int_9f80e1da | comment |
Sarcasm Mode: When a Gestapo man angrily raps on Bernie's door at 4:30 am, he says "There was no mistaking their finishing-school manners." | |
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The Pale Criminal | hasFeature |
The Pale Criminal / int_9f80e1da | |
The Pale Criminal / int_a2b38d3b | type |
Eye Scream | |
The Pale Criminal / int_a2b38d3b | comment |
Eye Scream: One of Bernie's police underlings gets trigger-happy, firing his gun at a fleeing suspect. The bullet goes through the suspect's head and out his eye socket, exploding his eyeball. | |
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The Pale Criminal | hasFeature |
The Pale Criminal / int_a2b38d3b | |
The Pale Criminal / int_aed65980 | type |
All for Nothing | |
The Pale Criminal / int_aed65980 | comment |
All for Nothing: Bernie exposes the conspiracy to kill the girls, blame the Jews, and start an anti-Semitic pogrom. Except the pogrom, known to history as Kristallnacht, happens anyway, after a Jew shoots a German diplomat in Paris. | |
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The Pale Criminal | hasFeature |
The Pale Criminal / int_aed65980 | |
The Pale Criminal / int_bcb4f1f1 | type |
You Just Told Me | |
The Pale Criminal / int_bcb4f1f1 | comment |
You Just Told Me: How Bernie, who suspects treachery, gets Frau Lange to admit that her son has gotten the incriminating letters back. | |
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The Pale Criminal | hasFeature |
The Pale Criminal / int_bcb4f1f1 | |
The Pale Criminal / int_cb9aeb6a | type |
Vigilante Man | |
The Pale Criminal / int_cb9aeb6a | comment |
Vigilante Man: Bernie, knowing that Weisthor and Rahn will probably escape punishment due to their membership in the SS, decides that Kindermann, at least, should pay. So Bernie shoots him to death. | |
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The Pale Criminal | hasFeature |
The Pale Criminal / int_cb9aeb6a | |
The Pale Criminal / int_cfbd1467 | type |
Never Suicide | |
The Pale Criminal / int_cfbd1467 | comment |
Never Suicide: Hering, the blackmailer, is found hanging from a beam in his apartment. All Bernie has to do is look at his neck and see a second, separate ligature mark, to figure out that Hering actually was strangled. | |
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The Pale Criminal / int_cfbd1467 | |
The Pale Criminal / int_dca97045 | type |
Just Following Orders | |
The Pale Criminal / int_dca97045 | comment |
Just Following Orders: Another cop says they should publicize the killings to help protect the teenaged girls of Berlin. Bernie says that he can't, and that he's "only obeying orders." He then feels ashamed for using the typical "German excuse". | |
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The Pale Criminal | hasFeature |
The Pale Criminal / int_dca97045 | |
The Pale Criminal / int_e3847ee8 | type |
Cigarette of Anxiety | |
The Pale Criminal / int_e3847ee8 | comment |
Cigarette of Anxiety: Reinhard Heydrich once sent Bernie to Dachau, so Bernie needs a smoke when facing Heydrich again. He lights his cigarette "nervously". | |
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The Pale Criminal | hasFeature |
The Pale Criminal / int_e3847ee8 | |
The Pale Criminal / int_ea7e3be8 | type |
Dramatic Gun Cock | |
The Pale Criminal / int_ea7e3be8 | comment |
Dramatic Gun Cock: When Bernie answers the anonymous letter summoning him to a meeting in the burned-out Reichstag, he does this on purpose, noisily chambering a round in his Mauser to let whoever called him there know that he is armed. | |
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The Pale Criminal | hasFeature |
The Pale Criminal / int_ea7e3be8 | |
The Pale Criminal / int_f93c1fc1 | type |
Edgy Backwards Chair-Sitting | |
The Pale Criminal / int_f93c1fc1 | comment |
Edgy Backwards Chair-Sitting: Becker, who is excited to deliver his report on the Emmeline Steininger case, turns a chair around and sits in it "with his forearms leaning on the back." | |
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The Pale Criminal | hasFeature |
The Pale Criminal / int_f93c1fc1 | |
The Pale Criminal / int_fd7f0823 | type |
Distinguished Gentleman's Pipe | |
The Pale Criminal / int_fd7f0823 | comment |
Distinguished Gentleman's Pipe: Subverted. Bernie's partner Bruno smokes a pipe, but Bernie finds pipes profoundly irritating. | |
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The Pale Criminal |
The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.
The Pale Criminal | hasFeature |
Blowing Smoke Rings / int_925f9b11 | |
The Pale Criminal | hasFeature |
Hit Me, Dammit! / int_925f9b11 |
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Copyright of data TVTropes.org contributors under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.