THE MURDER INVESTIGATION OF ADOLF HITLER

A MUNICH MYSTERY

by Peter Clenott ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 21, 2026

Clenott offers a superbly drawn, skillful slice of Weimar-era mystery implicating German high society.

The consuming nature of power and control is the focus of this stylish novel, which revisits and fictionalizes a real-life scandal that almost stopped Adolf Hitler’s quest to become Germany’s chancellor. On September 19, 1931, Hitler’s niece, Geli Raubal, is found dead in his apartment from a gunshot wound. For the future Führer’s inner circle, it’s a development that threatens to scuttle their grand dreams of becoming their country’s new masters. The initial finding that the death was apparently suicide suits their desire to push the story off the front pages and quell rumors about Hitler’s “proclivities” (“His renditions of his niece are not for public consumption”) and his prior refusal to let his niece go out alone in public, as his sister acknowledges: “He watches Geli with a hundred eyes.” Enter Munich homicide detective Avi Kreisler, who has a keen eye for detail and doubts the official story from the beginning. His suspicions heighten after the discovery of an incriminating letter, written by Hitler, that an aspiring artist—whose fatal fall from a window has also been ruled a suicide—may have been using to blackmail the Nazi Party’s star leader. Suspicions harden to certainty after Henny Hoffman, the daughter of Hitler’s official photographer, Heinrich Hoffman, confides to Kreisler some key information about Geli, which “Herr Hitler knew.” For Kreisler, the dilemma lies in solving a case that the legal establishment—from his nervous superior, Fritz Langer, to the Bavarian minister of justice, Franz Gürtner—is all too eager to close.

The resulting moral ambiguities resemble the classic noir elements of gritty films like Chinatown (1974). The evildoer seems obvious from the get-go, but the person is skillfully explored. In one of the novel’s most artfully drawn scenes, Kreisler manages to gain an audience with Hitler by feigning an interest in architecture and saying that he was rejected from the Vienna Academy, just as Hitler was: “They said there was no humanity in what I drew, but I simply drew what I saw,” Kreisler says. Hitler’s instant response (“Those people are talentless schweine”) becomes further grist for Kreisler’s investigation, even as it confirms his feelings that Hitler is “a very lonely man, a misfit,” as he muses to a companion. “He knows it. He tries to hide it, but he lives in fear of being found out.” It’s one of many such moments in this book that cut to the heart of Hitler’s pathology by blending historical detail and skillful storytelling. Anything Hitler would build would “fall apart in an instant,” Kreisler surmises: “It’s the lack of humanity that’s the issue”—a raw yet relatable sentiment that should engage readers angered by past and current moral calamities. The work’s adept blend of outrage, historical accuracy, and sharp characterization sets a very high standard for historical fiction that many writers will find hard to beat.

A bold, smart spin on an underdiscussed scandal, ably reimagined as a murder mystery.

Pub Date: April 21, 2026

ISBN: 9798898201319

Page Count: 236

Publisher: Level Best - Historia

Review Posted Online: June 11, 2026

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

HISTORICAL FICTION | MYSTERY & DETECTIVE | HISTORICAL MYSTERY