A TRACE OF SMOKE, by Rebecca Cantrell

Berlin, 1931, just as the true menace of Hitler's cadres is revealing itself. Crime reporter Hannah Vogel views the wall of the Unidentified Dead in Berlin Police Headquarters, a grim wall with photos of bodies, and discovers her homosexual brother's. Fished out of the river, he had been murdered with a single knife-thrust to the heart. Ernst's blatant cross-dressing lifestyle was a target for unchecked, unpunished Nazi violence. Her investigation must be very subtle, particularly as an SS member has taken a personal interest in her. Click below for more...
Hours later at a trial she's covering for her paper, Hannah meets the charming and witty banker Boris, attending with his daughter. Attraction is instant and mutual. But her brother's death is an impediment, as is the arrival at her apartment of Anton, a very unusual five year old boy claiming to be her son. And an Indian brave. Now Hannah must juggle all the men in her life, dead and alive, plus work her way through the hostile wasteland of German politics. It's a beautifully-plotted 5 chock full of characters from sympathetic to sinister.
Find the author at www.rebeccacantrell.com
Find more book reviews in all genres at www.muts4books.com