The Murderer in Ruins cover art

The Murderer in Ruins

CI Frank Stave, Book 1

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The Murderer in Ruins

By: Cay Rademacher
Narrated by: Mark Meadows
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About this listen

Hamburg, 1947. A ruined city occupied by the British who bombed it, experiencing the coldest winter in living memory. Food is scarce; refugees and the homeless crowd into shantytowns and sheds. There is a killer on the loose, and all attempts to find him or her have failed.

Plagued with worry about his missing son, Frank Stave is a career policeman with a tragedy in his past that is driving his determination to find the killer. With the help of his colleague Maschke from the vice squad and Lt MacDonald from the British military, Stave has to find out why - in the wake of a wave of atrocity, the grim Nazi past and the bleak attempts by his German countrymen to re-create a country from the apocalypse - someone is still dedicated to murder.

A spine-tingling portrayal of pure evil, with multiple twists, turns and subplots. What, or who, will rise from the ashes?

©2015 Cay Rademacher (P)2017 Audible, Ltd Historical Mystery Police Procedural Suspense Thriller & Suspense Fiction Exciting

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All stars
Most relevant
Something kept me listening dispite the odd translation of some words. Glad I did, really good, story with good characters. Enjoy.

Great Story.

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Murderer in Ruins" is a novel set in an almost destroyed, post war Hamburg.  Frank Stave is a detective who is asked to investigate the discovery of a naked women hidden in the ruin strewn city.  She is the first but she won't be the last.  Stave, working with his colleague, a British army officer and a seconded detective from the Vice Squad work to find out who she was and what may have lead to her death.  During the investigation a further two bodies are discovered, that of an elderly man and a child both meeting the same fate as the first victim.  Stave and his team have to establish if the deaths are linked and if so, by what?  


This is Cay Rademacher's debut novel translated from German into English, and is good read, there are several twists and turns.  In my view readers of Luke McCallin and Philip Kerr would particularly enjoy the Frank Stave series

A Good Debut

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I have never tried this author before but I will definitely be listening and or reading his other books.
The plot is very good with unexpected twists and turns and the characters very believable and in the case of the good guys I liked them a lot. The descriptions of Hamburg after the war are so clear you can almost feel you are there. I also liked the narrator he seemed apt for the characters and storyline.
I thoroughly recommend

Excellent thriller come detective story

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This was poorly written, nothing much happened until chapter 11, and it finished at chapter 16. I wasted my time listening to this, waiting for it to improve. Save yourself the bother, don’t even start if

Disappointed

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