Munich, 1957

Bernie Gunther is working under an alias as an appraiser for a large insurance company. His employers assign him a mission that is not as simple as it seems: to travel to Athens and investigate the case of a shipwreck that occurred in Greek waters.

In Athens, Gunther meets the ship's owner and former Wehrmacht soldier, Siegfried Witzel. When Witzel is murdered, Gunther investigates the cause of his death and is led to a case that has been pending since the years of the Occupation.

Once again, Philip Kerr's famous hero delves into the dark history of World War II, specifically the crime of the extermination of the Jews of Thessaloniki and the seizure of their property.

As Europe seems ready to follow a common future with Germany as an ally rather than an enemy, at least one person in Greece is not willing to forget or forgive. Even Bernie himself believes that this person might be right...