by M. M. Kaye (Author), Kate Udall (Narrator), Audible Studios (Publisher)

An Audiobook

A vacation with her adopted cousin Robert and his wife (who were to be newly stationed in post-war Berlin) becomes a nightmare of death and suspicion for Miranda Brand.

After the traveling group dines in the hotel, a tipsy old army Brigadier tells a story about a fortune in lost diamonds. It seems that the Nazi Lieutenant who stole them had lived in a house very near to where Robert and his wife are assigned. That Nazi, his wife, and the diamonds disappeared and were never found, but rumors persist.  The house was partially destroyed in a later bombing. Now, it’s a fenced-off, dangerous eyesore. 

Something about that story tickles Miranda’s memory.  As an orphan girl, she remembers carrying a very heavy doll and running across the beach to a small boat amid bombs exploding. Later, she cried when they took the doll away.

After the Brigadier’s story, and late on a night train, Miranda finds a murdered body. The cool (and handsome) German policeman assigned to the case shadows her and the others in her company. Miranda is terrified when she discovers another dead body. People are not who they seem. Who can she trust? She thinks the policeman is safe, but is she right? And darn, if she isn’t falling for him!

M.M. Kaye is an extraordinary writer of suspense. Exquisite tension fills most of this book from cover to cover.  Intangible danger seems to lurk everywhere Miranda is and terrifies her. I don’t know how the author writes like this, but DEATH IN BERLIN is one terrific read!  (Originally written in 1955.)

Good narration as well.