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Peter Bernhardt

Goodreads Author

Born

in Stuttgart, Germany

Website

https://sedonauthor.com

Twitter

sedonawriter

Genre

Fiction, Thriller, Historical Fiction

Member Since

April 2009

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/sedonawriterfastmailnet

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As I approached my prime, I developed the powerful urge to write thrillers. My wife harbored the absurd suspicion midlife crisis had struck, because I was bound in those days to courtroom and desk at the U.S. Attorney’s Office. So my dream remained just that for a long time. As soon as I retired, though, we moved to Arizona and I took things in hand by enrolling in a workshop for wannabe authors. German is my native tongue, not English, and my experience as an author consisted of the publication of a couple of student papers and law journal articles, plus cranking out numberless legal pleadings and briefs. What was I thinking?

The workshop was a bust, but it did push me into tackling my first book, The Stasi File – Opera and Espionage: A De As I approached my prime, I developed the powerful urge to write thrillers. My wife harbored the absurd suspicion midlife crisis had struck, because I was bound in those days to courtroom and desk at the U.S. Attorney’s Office. So my dream remained just that for a long time. As soon as I retired, though, we moved to Arizona and I took things in hand by enrolling in a workshop for wannabe authors. German is my native tongue, not English, and my experience as an author consisted of the publication of a couple of student papers and law journal articles, plus cranking out numberless legal pleadings and briefs. What was I thinking?

The workshop was a bust, but it did push me into tackling my first book, The Stasi File – Opera and Espionage: A Deadly Combination, in which, following the age-old advice to “write what you know,” I wove together the unlikely combination of a German upbringing, a lifelong love of opera and my experiences as an attorney. After a beginning that seemed to take forever, I was surprised when the challenge of creating characters and building a plot that was real and intriguing started to take over my waking hours, and a few sleeping ones too.

My skill and talent developed quickly, but there were many times they seemed almost superfluous--I was too busy holding on tight as my characters and their actions took over and went their own ways, leaving me to serve as their scribe and menial servant. What a journey!

The Stasi File was named a finalist for Book of the Year by the British-Arts-Council sponsored website www.youwriteon.com, and is ranked a bestseller by the site. The novel was a quarter finalist in the 2011 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Contest. Reviews and reader comments on the book include “breathtaking roller coaster ride,” and “comparable to the books of Clancy, Ludlum and Follett.”

The sequel, Kiss of the Shaman's Daughter, pits The Stasi File protagonists, Sylvia and Rolf, against ruthless smugglers of Indian artifacts during Sylvia's engagement at the Santa Fe Opera, interweaving as subplot the story of thirteen-year old Indian girl, Teya, during the Pueblo Indian Revolt of 1680 that drove the Spanish from New Mexico.

The fierce cold-war espionage battle between East and West Germany inspired me to write my third novel, Red Romeo. The plot takes the reader inside the Stasi spymaster's ingenious method of unleashing his small army of spy gigolos on lonely women working in the West German government's most secret divisions.
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Peter Bernhardt’s books

Average rating: 3.7 · 60 ratings · 26 reviews · 11 distinct works

	The Stasi File: Opera and Espionage - A Deadly Combination 3.67 avg rating — 30 ratings — published 2009 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. 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
	Red Romeo 3.65 avg rating — 26 ratings — published 2015 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. 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
	Kiss of the Shaman's Daughter (#2) really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 3 ratings — published 2013 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. 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
	Wily Violets and Underground Orchids, Revelations of a Botanist by Peter Bernhardt (Goodreads Author), illustrated (illustrator) it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. 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
	Roter Romeo 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. 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
	Kuss der Schamanentochter: Revolte, Verlorener Schatz und Schmuggler (Diva Unverzagt Buch 2) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. 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
	植物との共生 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. 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
	Le baiser de la rose 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. 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
	Abgefahren. 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. 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
	Elektronisches Geld: D. neuen Dienstleistungen der Banken 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. 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

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German edition of The Stasi File

The German edition of The Stasi File is selling very well in e-book format in Germany.

Peter Bernhardt, Author: "The Stasi File," Quarter Finalist 2011 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award; German edition: "Die Stasi-Akte." Sequel: "Kiss of the Shaman's Daughter." http://tinyurl.com/a7rnpql - http://sedonaauthor.com - http://tinyurl.com/lc6tzdf Read more of this blog post »

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Published on July 07, 2014 16:07

Peter is Currently Reading

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Bad To The Bones (Evan Buckley Thriller, #1)

by James Harper (Goodreads Author)

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Jun 06, 2026 04:56PM

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The Water Women: A Novel

by Bonnie Blaylock (Goodreads Author)

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The Foreign Correspondent (Night Soldiers, #9)

by Alan Furst

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Jan 18, 2026 02:29PM

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Peter finished reading Kiss of the Shaman's Daughter (#2) by Peter Bernhardt (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. 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
Jun 06, 2026 05:19PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Kiss of the Shaman's Daughter by Peter Bernhardt. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Kiss of the Shaman's Daughter by Peter Bernhardt <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
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Very enjoyable. With the exception of the obvious-from-page-one romance and a few grammatical glitches, this was a very good read. I will look for more by this author.
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Premisegreat; book not so much. What an intriguing idea - a complex plan to use the US Constitution to bring down the country! Unfortunately, the cardboard characters, innumerable unbelievable coincidences, poor pacing and repetitious subplots make fo ...more
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Real English, Anyone? The plot idea isn't bad, but the telling - omg! Awkward phrasing, run-on sentences, incomprehensible descriptions, terrible grammar, and that's just the start. I was actually unable to decipher some of the sentences, the meaning ...more
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message 2: by Peter

Sep 04, 2013 02:30PM

Thank you, Susan. Happy writing. Peter.

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message 1: by Susan

Sep 04, 2013 02:27PM

Peter, I looked to see if my son was on goodreads and then saw that you were here and remembered our emails about dinner...lol. Glad to have you as a friend here. Thanks. Susan

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