Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.

Start by marking “A Trace of Smoke (Hannah Vogel, #1)” as Want to Read:

Other editions

Enlarge cover

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Open Preview

A Trace of Smoke

(Hannah Vogel #1)

Rebecca Cantrell (Goodreads Author)

3.92 · Rating details · 2,240 ratings · 370 reviews

Even though hardened crime reporter Hannah Vogel knows all too well how tough it is to survive in 1931 Berlin, she is devastated when she sees a photograph of her brother's body posted in the Hall of the Unnamed Dead. Ernst, a cross-dressing lounge singer at a seedy nightclub, had many secrets, a never-ending list of lovers, and plenty of opportunities to get into trouble. ...more

Get A Copy

Hardcover, 292 pages

Published May 12th 2009 by Forge Books

More Details... Edit Details

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Reader Q&A

To ask other readers questions about A Trace of Smoke, please sign up.

Be the first to ask a question about A Trace of Smoke

Lists with This Book

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer

WWII Historic Fiction

1,200 books — 1,536 voters

World War II/Holocaust Fiction & Non-fiction

908 books — 766 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

Showing 1-30

Average rating 3.92 ·

Rating details

· 2,240 ratings · 370 reviews

More filters

Sort order

Start your review of A Trace of Smoke (Hannah Vogel, #1)

Mar 20, 2012 Judith Starkston rated it really liked it

Shelves: strong-women, mystery, historical-mystery

Berlin, 1931, the year Germany was lost to the Nazis. Hannah Vogel, a crime reporter, wanders into the Hall of the Unnamed Dead to examine the police reports from which she gathers her stories each week. Instead she sees her brother’s photograph on the wall, his long hair and beautiful features wet from being dragged out of the Spree River, an anonymous floater. But Hannah’s identity papers, and with them her ability to talk to the police, are on their way to America in the hands of her Jewish f Berlin, 1931, the year Germany was lost to the Nazis. Hannah Vogel, a crime reporter, wanders into the Hall of the Unnamed Dead to examine the police reports from which she gathers her stories each week. Instead she sees her brother’s photograph on the wall, his long hair and beautiful features wet from being dragged out of the Spree River, an anonymous floater. But Hannah’s identity papers, and with them her ability to talk to the police, are on their way to America in the hands of her Jewish friend Sarah. Until Sarah mails back her papers, she is trapped with only her journalist skills to figure out who killed her brother. But that is the least of the traps Hannah will step into.

Cantrell builds a surprising story. You haven’t heard this one, even if you’ve read a great deal about the Holocaust and the lead up to World War II. It’s dark, but not overwhelmingly grim, as WWII tales can be. The plot takes unexpected turns and the characters are convincingly drawn, both from the historical and psychological point of view. Cantrell’s persuasive and complex characters will pull your sympathies in directions you feel a bit uncomfortable about, to characters you otherwise despise, as well as to brave people whom you hold your breath for, turn those pages so quickly for. Humanity—never an easy project to depict with subtle veracity. Cantrell excels at it.

One theme is developed with particular sensitivity: the parent-child relationship. A five-year-old boy appears late one night on Hannah’s doorstep. He insists she is his mother, which, of course, Hannah can be quite sure she’s not. But she takes care of him and while searching for his real parents, she grows to love him. She had already served as mother to her brother Ernst, whose terrible end and troubled life she partially blames herself for. How can she be a parent to this little boy entrusted to her when she had failed her brother? But, as Cantrell’s subtle portrayal shows us, she is an excellent mother both to her lost brother and Anton, the mysterious child. Hannah falls in love with a wealthy, handsome banker, Boris, who has come with his daughter to witness the rape trial Hannah’s covering—and we meet another conflicted, devoted parent. Both Hannah and Boris will face excruciating choices for their children. Their common understanding of the value of what they are doing is one of the foundations of their friendship. Then there are some less benign parents. Cantrell avoids the saccharine and brings us a complicated, humane exploration of mothers, fathers, and their children. It’s only one of many resonances in this engaging book.

I’ve just discovered these treasures of historical mystery. A Trace of Smoke is the first, then A Night of Long Knives, and her most recent, A Game of Lies. ...more

flag 11 likes · Like · see review

Apr 29, 2018 Jaksen rated it it was ok

Meandering, clumsy, confusing, convoluted, contrived. I can't believe I finished.

The story of Hannah, a young German girl, in the months leading up to WW2. Her brother's dead. He had several important lovers. Hannah tries to track down what happened, why and when, all the while skirting the authorities who have the power to stop and question anyone, including German (Aryan) citizens. She can't go to the police because two of her friends have borrowed her identification papers to travel to the US ...more

flag 10 likes · Like · see review

Aug 12, 2012 Rob Kitchin rated it liked it

Somewhat surprisingly I struggled through A Trace of Smoke. I’ve been thinking about why as it has many of the ingredients that I normally like - good historical context and sense of place, an interesting plot, and a good mix of distinctive characters. After a bit of reflection, I think there are four reasons. First, I found the writing a little flat and pedestrian. Second, the dialogue really didn’t work for me – it’s too formal and stilted. There are very little, if any, colloquialisms, slang, ...more

flag 7 likes · Like · see review

Jul 28, 2011 Sam rated it really liked it

Shelves: mystery

If you want to get a feel for pre World War II Germany, this is your book. A Trace of Smoke takes place in 1931 Berlin, the Nazi's are just starting to make their presence known and the people of Berlin are still recovering from the shortages and lose of the first war. Great writing and a wonderful mystery taking you from the burlesque houses of Berlin, to the lakes and posh clubs of the rich, from the anti-Semitism of Nazi rule to the compassion that still exited in those not afraid to stand up ...more

flag 5 likes · Like · see review

May 30, 2011 J.D. rated it really liked it

In 1931 Berlin, crime reporter Hannah Vogel discovers her brother's photograph in the police station's Hall of the Unnamed Dead. Her brother, a homosexual, cross-dressing lounge singer, had a number of shady connections and numerous liasons with powerful and dangerous men, and when Hannah sets off to find his killer, she runs afoul of one of the scariest real-life figures of the days before Hitler's rise to power.
This is a great historical mystery. I especially liked the contrasts between the s ...more

flag 5 likes · Like · see review

Aug 20, 2013 Renee rated it it was amazing

Shelves: world-mystery

A good read and a gripping mystery/suspense tale, this is also a peek at life in Berlin as the Nazi's begin their rise. It made me wonder about the cult of personality and not just Hitler, but others in his circle o' thugs. At some point, Hannah, the main character and narrator, wonders what would happen without those who surround Hitler--Rohm, Goebbels, etc. Would he just be a short, shrieking man with a funny mustache? ...more

flag 5 likes · Like · see review

Mar 03, 2010 Rachel Brady rated it it was amazing

This is a lovely story about a woman's search for the truth in pre-Nazi Berlin, when everything is uncertain--from the political climate to when protagonist Hannah Vogel will eat her next meal. Cantrell has set a compelling mystery in the midst of a city and time most of us can't imagine, yet she's done so in a way that made me feel I was there. I enjoyed Hannah on many levels: her career as a newspaper reporter writing under a male pseudonym, her emotional recovery following a challenging child ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Oct 28, 2010 James rated it did not like it

Shelves: history, fiction, crime

One of many character flaws is a deep enjoyment of detective stories set in the weimar republic and third reich, I blame watching raiders of the lost ark at an impressionable age. I am therefore pretty non discriminating and as long as you hit the period detail, brave person in a sea of lunacy and creepy nazis I am there. At the start I really liked the twist of having the hero be a woman, especially as other authors in the genre are pretty slapdash with their female characters.

Reading this boo ...more

flag 4 likes · Like · see review

Oct 25, 2013 Cold War Conversations Podcast rated it really liked it

Shelves: germany, berlin, fiction

Set in Berlin in 1931 the book describes a period not seen in many novels, the era between the massive inflationary years and pre the Nazis coming to absolute power.

You also rarely find such a strong female character as Hannah Vogel. A 30 year old crime reporter who has to write under a male pseudonym for her work to be taken seriously.

The story opens with her weekly visit to Police Headquarters where the Hall of the Unnamed Dead carries on its walls photos of unidentified bodies. Much to her ho ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Nov 23, 2009 Laura rated it liked it

Shelves: historical-fiction, mystery, noir

I had to add a new shelf just for this book: "noir". And when I think about it, there doesn't seem to be a setting as perfect for a noir mystery than Berlin in the 1930's. It doesn't even need any embellishment by the author to create the atmosphere of unreality, violence and decay. Or as the dictionary says: "a genre of crime literature featuring tough, cynical characters and bleak settings". Well, I don't know that they come much bleaker than Berlin during the rise of the Nazi party. Even read I had to add a new shelf just for this book: "noir". And when I think about it, there doesn't seem to be a setting as perfect for a noir mystery than Berlin in the 1930's. It doesn't even need any embellishment by the author to create the atmosphere of unreality, violence and decay. Or as the dictionary says: "a genre of crime literature featuring tough, cynical characters and bleak settings". Well, I don't know that they come much bleaker than Berlin during the rise of the Nazi party. Even reading about it can put a knot in your stomach as the little things - precursors to Germany's military aggression and "final solution" - appear in the novel.

Hannah Vogel is a single woman in 1931 Berlin. A firm Socialist, she is appalled at the power she sees accumulating around the Nazis, but still believes that there is a limit to what they can eventually control and that Germany will come to it's senses and that they will eventually be voted out of power. At least she feels that way at the beginning of the novel, by the end, although she has no real idea how far things will go, she has admitted to herself that they are out of control and she is no longer certain how they will end.

While A Trace of Smoke remains Hannah's search to find out what happened to her murdered brother, the book is fascinating and hard to put down. However, about half-way through the picture broadens and national politics come into play - potentially history changing politics - and that is where my interest began to wane. I'm not much for "international spy thrillers" or other books that use the entire world as their playing field, I'm more interested in ordinary people and their lives, but in this case it was an even more jarring change than it would have been in another book. 1930's Berlin was a very personal place, full of personal fears that could not be discussed safely and personal secrets that could not be discussed at all. Everyone's lives shrank as their fear grew. When Cantrell's focus began to broaden to include events on a larger scale, it broke my immersion into the time period and I began to feel distanced and my attention wandered. After all, we know how things turned out for Berlin and the Nazi's on a larger scale - there is no suspense involved.

That said, A Trace of Smoke is Rebecca Cantrell's first novel and I enjoyed it enough that I will pick up her second. ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Feb 08, 2010 Marlyn rated it it was amazing

Shelves: mystery

Hannah Vogel is a single 32-year-old woman in a Germany where Nazi-ism is becoming rampant. A crime reporter for the Berliner Tageblatt, she considers herself fairly tough and unshakeable. But when, on a regular visit to the police station she sees a photo of her younger brother Ernst in the photos of the unnamed dead, the unidentified bodies discovered over the past week, she is (understandably) upset.

Hannah's friend Fritz Waldheim is the policeman on duty, though, so she tries not to show it. ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Apr 06, 2011 Bob Mustin rated it really liked it

During the two years of my MLA studies, I grew into a fascination with the emergence of Germany’s Third Reich – how it happened and why. Since, I’ve looked, beyond historical texts, to fiction relating to the years between the World Wars in Germany, and to the more modern novels of post-WWII.

Cantrell’s book is a venture into a genre blending of mystery and historical fiction – a blend I find near irresistible. In a word, the author has taken up where CABARET left off. Historically, we see a Germ ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

May 26, 2018 meghann rated it it was amazing

Shelves: b-n-serial-reads

This was the Barnes and Noble serial read for the month of May.

This was one of those books that just kept getting better the further into it I got. I actually did not like Hannah at the beginning of the story. I feel like she was a product of all the horrible things that had happened in her life. It wasn't until she let two new people into her life that all the walls came down and I really got to see the true Hannah. She turned into a total badass by the end, and I am living for it. She's playin ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Jul 12, 2010 Suzanne Adair rated it really liked it

Few novels that I pick up hold my attention beyond the first several chapters. What a pleasure to read A Trace of Smoke by Rebecca Cantrell. Ms. Cantrell sets her historical suspense/mystery in Berlin on the eve of Germany's descent into control by the Nazis. Journalist Hannah Vogel discovers that her brother, Ernst, has been murdered. Circumstances prevent her seeking the help of law enforcement officials. She becomes the sleuth to uncover the identity of her brother's killer, endangering her o ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

May 26, 2018 Gabriela rated it really liked it

I loved this book which I read as a NOOK Serial over the course of May. Courageous Hanna Vogel, crime reporter/journalist in Berlin right at the start of a brewing WW, is way out of her depth at solving the mystery of her brother’s death. Moving In circles most other people don’t want to know about she persists at great danger and the cost of - perhaps - a great love. I want to know how the story goes on as this was only the beginning ....

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Aug 03, 2009 TBML rated it it was ok

An evocative and dark novel about the end of Weimar Berlin. Rebecca Cantrell's A Trace of Smoke follows Hannah Vogel, a crime reporter as she tries to unravel the mystery of her brother's death. Cantrell gives us a tour of the more flamboyant and seedy alleys of 1931 Berlin which includes cabarets, cocaine, prostitutes and homosexuals. Aside from the mystery of her cross-dressing brother's death, the story is haunted by a mounting social and political fear as the Nazis continue their ascent to p ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Apr 01, 2010 Deborah Ledford rated it it was amazing

Shelves: literary, mystery, suspense, historical-fiction, award-winner

Such an amazing read. Rebecca Cantrell takes us on a suspenseful ride of 1931 Berlin brimming with intrigue, suspicion and murder. This capable writer presents visuals and details so rich you can feel the atmosphere and varied cultures fraught with trepidation as to what Germany and its people will become.

Hannah Vogel, Anton, Boris and especially Ernst are captivating characters, memorable and lasting. I read every word of this debut novel as I didn't want to rush or miss a single detail.

Kudos ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Nov 07, 2011 Michelle rated it really liked it

Shelves: historical-fiction, mystery

This was a well-written historical novel that had me hooked from the first chapter. The novel boasts strong character development along with a fast paced and suspenseful storyline. It presents a look into the personal life of prominent Nazi soldiers and Nazi Germany that is not often depicted. Though this novel is fiction, it weaves enough nonfiction facts into the story, and it is very easy for the reader to forget it is fiction and take what is being read as fact. I highly recommend this to an ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Jul 13, 2010 Dhogarty rated it it was ok

Imagine what one would include when writing a murder mystery set in Wiemar Germany right before the Nazis rise to power, and Cantrell's got it. Sadist homosexual Nazis--check. Sadist heterosexual military men--check. Murdered cross-dressing MacGuffin--check. Prostitutes--check. Plucky child in danger--check. Heroine who wants romantic love and plucky child--check. Cast of supporting resourceful Jewish characters who ably help the protagonist without imagining their heavily foreshadowed impending ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Feb 15, 2011 Jim rated it really liked it

Shelves: ebooks, fiction, mysteries

A thoroughly enjoyable mystery set in 1931 Germany. As Hitler gains power, a Berlin crime reporter learns that her homosexual, cross-dressing younger brother has been murdered, and there are several legitimate suspects, including Hitler's right-hand man. It's filled with evocative narrative and an excellent sense of time and place. In less competent hands, some of the subject matter could go way too far down Sordid Lane, but Cantrell does a good job of exploring this particular underbelly withou ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Jul 13, 2010 Chris Wolak rated it it was amazing

I loved reading this novel and was sorry to see it come to an end. It had been on my radar for sometime and I moved it to the top of my reading list when I found out Rebecca Cantrell was coming to the area for a book signing. I'm now looking forward to reading the second Hannah Vogel novel, A Night of Long Knives, which was just released in June.

Set in 1931 Berlin A Trace of Smoke is a skillfully written mystery/thriller with a literary sensibility. I was hooked on the first page. This richly de I loved reading this novel and was sorry to see it come to an end. It had been on my radar for sometime and I moved it to the top of my reading list when I found out Rebecca Cantrell was coming to the area for a book signing. I'm now looking forward to reading the second Hannah Vogel novel, A Night of Long Knives, which was just released in June.

Set in 1931 Berlin A Trace of Smoke is a skillfully written mystery/thriller with a literary sensibility. I was hooked on the first page. This richly detailed story does not get bogged down by the details because the details are so organic to the story. Hannah Vogel and the surrounding cast of characters are vivid flesh and blood people. Their lives are in flux due to the aftermath of The Great War and the rise of the Nazi Party, which is poised to take control of not only the city, but of Germany. Some people, such as Hannah's Jewish friend Sarah and her brother, have fled Germany while others are trying to negotiate the shifting political landscape. As a result, the climate is one of increasing distrust, suspicion, and violence.

Hannah has just discovered something horrible when we meet her on the first pages. The brother that she practically raised as her own son, Ernst, had been distant from her for the last six months and now he's dead. Murdered. Hannah sees his picture in the Hall of the Unnamed Dead at the Alexanderplatz police station and must keep the information to herself. He was fished out of the water, naked, with no signs of violence on his body other than a single stab wound through his heart. Hannah is a crime reporter and was at the police station for her weekly Monday meeting with a contact who gives her access to reports for potential stories about the murders, rapes, and other crimes committed over the weekend.

She tells no one that Ernst is dead because she, like her dead brother, currently has no identity papers. Hannah and Ernst had loaned their identity papers to Sarah and her brother who used the papers to escape from the increasingly violent antisemitism of the Nazis. They used the papers and posed as Hannah and Ernst going on vacation to America. If Hannah were to report Ernst's death, all could be lost for Sarah and her brother. So for now she keeps her own brother's murder to herself, at least until the identity papers are returned, and starts her own investigation into the murder.

Hannah's brother was gay and the star performer at the El Dorado, a posh drag club, and that's her first investigative stop. Although he's the star attraction, Hannah is surprised to find that his coworkers at the bar aren't all that upset he's gone missing. Apparently he's disappeared like this for a few days in the past. But are some not upset because they're the murderers and know he's dead?

The story starts to unfold from there and includes a rich cast of characters, some who have been celebrated and/or decried as representing the "decadence" of Wiemar Berlin: drag queens, gay Nazis, prostitutes whose specialties are advertised by the boots they wear, as well as a powerful lawyer, reporters, Jewish shop owners and peddlers trying to maintain their livelihood in the only home they've ever know, an attractive banker and his daughter, an orphaned boy, and a cat named Mitzi.

Some of the details I didn't particularly notice at first because they are so skillfully woven into the fabric of the narrative, such as this example which is so revealing of Hannah's character and life:

After breakfast, I cleaned the apartment, like every other week for as long as I could remember. Anton helped me scrub the floor and wipe down the table. The last time I changed the sheets, Ernst had been alive. The time before that, Sarah had been living in Berlin and my identity papers were safely in my pocket. What would my life be like the next time I changed the sheets?

I read a few paragraphs beyond these lines and then stopped in my tracks to reflect on how seamlessly Cantrell had woven this important aspect of Hannah's character into the narrative. Hannah, we're informed earlier, was raised to be a wife and mother, as were most middle class women of the time period, and the quote above reflects that fact. However, it also clearly reveals how her life shapes her thinking. It is such a subtle but profound detail, one of those things that seeps into your brain while reading that you may not notice but that makes the character and story all the richer.

From my experience growing up with a mother and aunts who were raised in Germany between the 1920s-1940s, German women don't simply take their household chores seriously. Its something deeper than a duty, its a part of who they are. There's no drama surrounding chores--no bitching and moaning or lamenting--the work just gets done. And it gets done perfectly. You wash and clean. I think of the scene in The Reader when another German woman named Hanna (Hanna Schmitz) cleans up the young boy she doesn't even know as well as the sidewalk where he gets sick. Even my high school German teacher went off one day about the importance of cleaning what cannot even be seen: your undergarments. She thought there was nothing more detestable than a young girl or boy who looked good on the outside, but who wore dirty undergarments. Sounds like she had issues, doesn't it?

Back to the book: I attended Rebecca Cantrell's book signing on Monday night. (It was a joint signing with Shane Gericke whose books are set in Naperville, IL). One questioner asked Cantrell how she was able to write a novel that reads so convincingly like its in the present when we all know the horrific outcome of Nazi rule. Cantrell said that of course no one back then knew what would happen, so when researching the time period she stops reading research sources at the date/year she's currently writing about in an attempt to make sure Hannah doesn't know about events that she shouldn't yet know about.

And this was a great learning experience for me: Cantrell said she is careful to ensure that Hannah and other characters only comment on things that they would notice and not on historical detail. This made so much sense to me and really brought home why the sheet changing scene made such an impact on me. It also helped me understand why some historical fiction may seem to have all the right stuff, yet it doesn't ring true or gets bogged down in details: we don't notice physical details and reoccurring events in our own lives unless there's a reason for it, so why include such detail in a story unless it is somehow integral to character development or the story?

I was happy to hear that Cantrell has plans to write a total of nine Hannah Vogel mysteries: three pre-war, three during the war, and three post-war. A trilogy of trilogies. A Trace of Smoke will appeal to fans of Philip Kerr, Joseph Kanon, Robert Harris, WWII buffs, and mystery readers who enjoy strong and believable women investigators. ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Jun 03, 2017 Laura Edwards rated it liked it

Shelves: historical-mystery

I settled in to read "A Trace of Smoke" with high hopes. Good premise, interesting setting, evocative and taut atmosphere. But by the time I finished Chapter 7, however, it was clear Ms. Cantrell's writing was not pulling me into the story as I had hoped. Persevere until the end? I decided "yes" and not long after little Anton was introduced into the story, capturing my heart immediately and keeping me invested in the story when I might not have been otherwise.

The best parts of the book were th ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Dec 23, 2018 David Lowther rated it really liked it · review of another edition

A Trace of Smoke is an exceptional noir thriller set in Berlin on the cusp of the accession of the Nazis coming to power in the early 1930s.

Hannah Vogel is an very resourceful journalist who puts herself in harm's way while trying rot find out who murdered her younger brother who is gay.

It's a very dark tale and visiting dignitaries include the odious Ernst Röhm, leader of the brutal and dangerous brownshirts.

The great strength of the novel is the sense of time and place of Germany's capital a ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Sep 23, 2018 N added it

Shelves: unfinished, kindle, fiction, crime

I was looking forward to reading this, so it's a shame that it's a DNF for me. Its setting in Weimar Germany is ripe for boundary-breaking and noirish intrigue, but A Trace of Smoke just ends up feeling convoluted and gloomy.

I think there's just too much going on -- protagonist Hannah is trying to solve her brother's murder, while also covering a rape case as a crime reporter; she's in an on-again/off-again romance, and is grappling with (view spoiler). It ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Jan 19, 2020 Emmy Bennett rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Really enjoyed reading this historical mystery. It was based off actual events in history, with a fictional story weaved in. It gives the reader a taste of what it was like living in Berlin in the 1930's. Looking forward to book 2. The ending leaves you satisfied, but you want more.
What is in store for Hannah and Anton in book 2? ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Mar 17, 2018 Paul Groves rated it really liked it

While this book would not be a choice for me I won it in a competition and thought I would give it a go. I was pleasantly surprised. It was a good insight into pre WW2 Germany with the added twist of a murder mystery. Well worth a read

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Dec 05, 2012 Dennis rated it really liked it

Shelves: berlin-noir

In the course of my 3-year-old fascination with the so-called "Nazi noir" genre of recent fiction, set in interwar Berlin, until now I had yet to come across a consistent protagonist who was either Jewish or female. (And I've read, I believe, 16 or so books that fit this description) Even Richard Zimler's outstanding "The Seventh Gate", set in the waning years of the Weimar Republic onward, is driven forward by Sophie, a lovely girl who in spite of her love for Judaism and a Jewish man, is still In the course of my 3-year-old fascination with the so-called "Nazi noir" genre of recent fiction, set in interwar Berlin, until now I had yet to come across a consistent protagonist who was either Jewish or female. (And I've read, I believe, 16 or so books that fit this description) Even Richard Zimler's outstanding "The Seventh Gate", set in the waning years of the Weimar Republic onward, is driven forward by Sophie, a lovely girl who in spite of her love for Judaism and a Jewish man, is still deeply (and to her ultimate shame) a German. Despite the technical writerly mastery of Philip Kerr with his "Bernie Gunther" Weimar Republic gumshoe stories, and the Anglo-American sensibility of journalist John Russell, traveling from one Berlin train station to another in David Downing's excellent series, it took Rebecca Cantrell to break the streak of male, Gentile leading characters, and give us Hannah Vogel. Hannah is a feisty young crime reporter trying to survive in 1931 Berlin, at the very cusp of Hitler's and the Nazis' transformation from right-wing agitating street thug to corrupt and brutal politician. She lives in a city where everywhere the contrast between late-Victorianism and "modern" decadence is evident. And nowhere more so than in the swinging, wild gay clubs like El Dorado (which apparently recently re-opened in the 2000's after a history as an East German office building), frequented by her openly gay brother Ernst. A brother who Hannah desperately, and ultimately unsuccessfully, tries to protect from the jealous rage and backstabbing of hypocritical Nazis who beat up Jews, gypsies and queers by day, and some of whom then dress in drag and head to the El Dorado by night. The undisputed chief of this unsavory crowd is the historical character Ernst Roehm, an unlikely and openly gay Nazi who, besides sharing Hannah's brother's name and taking an unhealthy and obsessive liking to him, also happens to be a decorated WW1 German vet, a war hero, and the founder and leader of the murderous SA brownshirts, Hitler's early enforcers and the inspiration for later hate gangs and SS vigilantes. It's this second Ernst who pushes Hannah to her personal limits of resourcefulness and survival instinct.

All these three authors, Kerr, Downing, and now Rebecca Cantrell, have indeed done some serious and excellent background research, and you can practically track their characters' movements from one 'Stadtbezirk' to another across pre-war Berlin, from the Hertha BSC soccer stadium, via the S-Bahn to Kurfurstendamm and Alexanderplatz, with a good Michelin map. But more than that, with these novels, what makes them work so well is the incredible atmospherics, the accurate re-imaginings of the mores, the culture, the day-to-day concerns of people who didn't ask to face the 20th Century's greatest moral problems, but somehow had to do so anyway. Kerr's Bernie Gunther is of course the darkest of this lot, the eternal troubled detective, a Socialist caught between feuding Nazis and Commies, chain-smoking his way from one cabaret to another, and from one insoluble moral quandary to another, oscillating between the scent of beautiful women and the nerve-wracking guilt of watching Germany descend into a largely self-made hell. And Downing's John Russell: at heart this series of novels, each named for a celebrated Berlin railway station, is the story of a family, an extended one, at its center an innocent soul born in England, raised in America, but in love with a pretty Berlin actress, his early idealistic Leninist roots far behind him, determined not to lose either his German wife-to-be or his mostly-German son through the ravages of fascism and war.

And now we can add the plucky Hannah, heroine of "A Trace of Smoke", at age thirty-something already a WW1 widow, less flamboyant but more responsible than her eccentric brother, and somehow sunnier and more optimistic, more uplifting than either Gunther or Russell. From the beginning, in spite of her dreary surroundings, you sense that Hannah is destined to become a mother, to give birth either literally or figuratively, despite having no children of her own, and to rise above her circumstances and her birth. I am looking forward to reading more about Hannah's backstory and filling in the details in the three (or so) sequels to follow. Zeppelin chases, falsely adopted orphans, and a night of long knives where both the historical and the fictive Ernst Roehm doubtless meet their destiny... I can't wait. ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Jun 15, 2009 Nikki rated it it was amazing

Shelves: mysteries, historical-fiction, fiction

I must admit that I was predisposed to like this book. I lived in Berlin for a little over a year in the early 70s, so I'm always interested in books set there. And of the many historical periods there are to choose from, my favorite has always been the forty years or so before I was born -- from just before World War I to just after World War II. So a book set in 1931 Berlin would get two stars before I even opened it. The other three were earned by Rebecca Cantrell's plotting, her recreation o I must admit that I was predisposed to like this book. I lived in Berlin for a little over a year in the early 70s, so I'm always interested in books set there. And of the many historical periods there are to choose from, my favorite has always been the forty years or so before I was born -- from just before World War I to just after World War II. So a book set in 1931 Berlin would get two stars before I even opened it. The other three were earned by Rebecca Cantrell's plotting, her recreation of the setting, and her ability to create complex characters.

Protagonist Hannah Vogel is a woman in her early 30s, and like many in her generation, unmarried because her fiance was killed in the Great War. She is the middle child in her family, between a stodgy, excessively conventional older sister and a younger brother who's a drag queen performing in one of Berlin's notorious clubs. Hannah is a crime reporter under an assumed man's name for one of the Berlin newspapers; and one morning, in the Hall of the Unnamed Dead at Alexanderplatz, she sees a photograph of her brother's body. There are reasons she can't identify him officially, so she begins trying to find out how he was killed. Then a small child shows up at her door with a birth certificate that says she is his mother and that her brother is his father. Caring for little Anton further complicates her life and investigation, as does her budding relationship with the father of a victim in one of the trials she covered. A Trace of Smoke reads somewhat like a spy thriller, with Hannah unsure of whom she can trust and learning of her brother's connection to a well-known Nazi. It's often unwise of historical fiction writers to involve too many actual historical figures, but in this case Cantrell has chosen wisely. Her historical figure is Ernst Rohm, the leader of Hitler's SA (Sturmabteilung) and someone whose life was lived at least partly in the shadows. In this way the book is like Ariana Franklin's City of Shadows, where the historical figure is a claimant to be Anastasia. Although both are set in Berlin in the 30s, and both are excellent books, they are very different. In A Trace of Smoke, Hannah Vogel is still able to hope, against mounting evidence, that the German people will repudiate the Nazis. I'll be interested to see if Cantrell writes any more about Hannah Vogel, as there are so many ways her life can go from the end of the book. I'll definitely want to read whatever Cantrell's next book may be. ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Apr 13, 2012 Sarah rated it really liked it

Shelves: crimepieces

Historical crime fiction can be a problematic area for me as the quality varies widely. It’s a genre that has expanded considerably over the last decade or so but I like to pick and choose my writers based on recommendations and favourable reviews. One writer I particularly enjoy is Philip Kerr, whose books featuring the inimitable Bernie Gunther evoke the tensions and mutual suspicions endemic in Nazi Germany.

In A Trace of Smoke, Rebecca Cantrell uses a slightly earlier period of 1931 Berlin as Historical crime fiction can be a problematic area for me as the quality varies widely. It’s a genre that has expanded considerably over the last decade or so but I like to pick and choose my writers based on recommendations and favourable reviews. One writer I particularly enjoy is Philip Kerr, whose books featuring the inimitable Bernie Gunther evoke the tensions and mutual suspicions endemic in Nazi Germany.

In A Trace of Smoke, Rebecca Cantrell uses a slightly earlier period of 1931 Berlin as a setting for her murder mystery featuring crime reporter Hannah Vogel. Cantrell came highly recommended by a number of bloggers including Norman at Crime Scraps and Margot at Confessions of a Mystery Novelist both of whom have a good eye for quality writing.

Hannah Vogel is a crime reporter whose articles appear in the Berliner Tageblatt newspaper under the name of Peter Weill. When looking for inspiration for crime features, she visits the Hall of the Unnamed Dead at Alexanderplatz police station to investigate recent bodies discovered on Berlin’s streets. One Monday she studies the photographs of the weekend’s corpses and discovers the image of Ernst, her homosexual brother recently pulled from the Spree river. Determined not to reveal her connection to the body, she investigates the people in her brother’s life and discovers relationships that stretch to the highest echelons of Nazi society.

Her investigations are complicated by the arrival of Anton, a five-year-old orphan on her doorstep one evening. He claims that Hannah is his mother and that her dead brother was his father. And he has a birth certificate to prove it. However it is clear that Anton’s appearance is connected to her brother’s killing and soon events collide leaving Hannah to fight for her survival.

This was a very readable book with an interesting cast of characters and a well thought out murder plot. The character of Hannah Vogel was given a believable back-story, with an abusive father, an upwardly mobile sister and a brother who had spent his formative years hiding his homosexuality. Other characters were also well written, particularly Hannah’s friends Bettina married to a police officer and Sarah who has fled to America.

The writer has lived in Germany and she has used her knowledge of the city to good effect, with wonderful descriptions, for example, of the Jewish owned Wertheim department store and the decadent El Dorado gay club. It’s a Berlin that is different to Kerr’s even through some of the settings overlap but given that A Trace of Smoke is set in the early 1930s, you can see the characteristics of early Nazism without it yet having reached its full expression.

I wasn’t too keen on the love story in the book. These parts veered slightly too much on the romantic for me but I’m sure would appeal to others. But otherwise it was a very enjoyable read with a very well thought out plot. ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Aug 26, 2012 Michelle rated it really liked it

Shelves: women-s-fiction, 2012, historical, thriller

Normally I don’t care for books that are part of series, partly because it’s a rare series that hooks me enough to encourage further reading (I can only think of two: Hunger Games and Gallagher Girls) and I don’t enjoy books that can’t stand on their own. Trace of Smoke is a rare exception. I’m not sure if it was originally envisioned as a series or merely panned out that way. Although the end lends to follow-on potential it is a complete book in its own right and though I’d be interested to rea Normally I don’t care for books that are part of series, partly because it’s a rare series that hooks me enough to encourage further reading (I can only think of two: Hunger Games and Gallagher Girls) and I don’t enjoy books that can’t stand on their own. Trace of Smoke is a rare exception. I’m not sure if it was originally envisioned as a series or merely panned out that way. Although the end lends to follow-on potential it is a complete book in its own right and though I’d be interested to read the additional books I don’t feel shortchanged if I don’t.

This takes place in 1931 Berlin as the Nazis are coming into power. Hannah Vogel is a newspaper reporter (writing under a pseudonym) with a (very close) gay, cross-dressing brother who has died under mysterious circumstances and she must find out why. The writing is crisp and sharp and the setting well drawn. I could so perfectly envision most every scene. The author gives a real feel for the city and her research seems impeccable. There is a definite noir vibe to it, which is quite different from most novels taking place in this time period.

Hannah is an easy character to root for. She’s hard when she needs to be, soft other times, and though she sometimes makes bad decisions they are understandable and true to her character. I did wonder at times if her “ugh, Nazis are repulsive and where might they take all the Jews?” viewpoint was a little too prescient. I’m no historian so perhaps there were people who saw what was coming so clearly. In this book it wasn’t that Hannah had a general bad feeling or merely found the Nazis brutal, which would’ve made sense, but it went a step further and at times it seemed as though she knew exactly what was going to happen. Maybe that’s realistic. Maybe it was extremely obvious to some. Either way it felt a little too hindsight at times and pulled me from the story.

That said this was a great, fast read with a strong heroine. The fact I do want to read the future books in the series (which happens like once every five years) tells me I really connected with Hannah and her story. ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
Madison Mega-Mara...: "A Trace of Smoke" by Rebecca Cantrell	1	4	Feb 20, 2012 04:28PM

Readers also enjoyed

See similar books…

Videos About This Book

Add a comment

Genres

Mystery

150 users

Historical > Historical Fiction

120 users

Fiction

52 users

Historical

37 users

Cultural > Germany

36 users

Mystery > Historical Mystery

31 users

Thriller > Mystery Thriller

18 users

Thriller

16 users

War > World War II

16 users

Mystery > Crime

13 users

See top shelves…

About Rebecca Cantrell

Rebecca Cantrell

475 followers

A few years ago Rebecca Cantrell quit her job, sold her house, and moved to Hawaii to write a novel because, at seven, she decided that she would be a writer. Now she writes the award-winning Hannah Vogel mystery series set in Berlin in the 1930s. “A Trace of Smoke,” "A Night of Long Knives," "A Game of Lies," and "A City of Broken Glass." She also co-writes the Order of Sanguines series with Jame ...more