Philip Kerr

Philip Kerr
Kerr at PEN American Center in May 2014.
Born	Philip Ballantyne Kerr 22 February 1956 Edinburgh, Scotland
Died	23 March 2018(2018-03-23) (aged 62)
Pen name	P. B. Kerr
Occupation	Author
Language	English
Nationality	British
Citizenship	United Kingdom
Children	3
Website
philipkerr.org

This article is about the British novelist. For the British politician and diplomat, see Philip Kerr, 11th Marquess of Lothian.

Philip Ballantyne Kerr (22 February 1956 – 23 March 2018) was a British author. He was probably best known for his Bernie Gunther series of 13 historical thrillers.

Early life

Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, Kerr was educated at a grammar school in Northampton. He studied at the University of Birmingham from 1974 to 1980, gaining a master's degree in law and philosophy.

Career

Kerr worked as an advertising copywriter for Saatchi and Saatchi before becoming a full-time writer in 1989. A writer of both adult fiction and non-fiction, he is known for the Bernie Gunther series of historical thrillers set in Germany and elsewhere during the 1930s, the Second World War and the Cold War. He also wrote children's books under the name P. B. Kerr, including the Children of the Lamp series.

Kerr wrote for The Sunday Times, the Evening Standard, and the New Statesman. He was married to fellow novelist Jane Thynne; they lived in Wimbledon, London, and had three children. He died from cancer on 23 March 2018, aged 62. Just before he died, he finished a 14th Bernie Gunther novel, Metropolis, which will be published in 2019.

Awards and honours

In 1993, Kerr was named in Granta's list of Best Young British Novelists. In 2009, If the Dead Rise Not won the world's most lucrative crime fiction award, the RBA International Prize for Crime Writing worth €125,000. The book also won the British Crime Writers' Association's Ellis Peters Historic Crime Award that same year. His novel, Prussian Blue, has been longlisted for the 2018 Walter Scott Prize.

Publications

Novels

Bernie Gunther

• "Berlin Noir" "Bernie Gunther" trilogy, republished 1993 by Penguin Books in one volume. ISBN 978-0-14-023170-0.
  • March Violets. London: Viking, 1989. ISBN 0-670-82431-3, set in 1936
  • The Pale Criminal. London: Viking, 1990. ISBN 0-670-82433-X, set in 1938
  • A German Requiem. London: Viking, 1991. ISBN 0-670-83516-1, set in 1947–48
• Later "Bernie Gunther" novels
  • The One From the Other. New York: Putnam, 2006. ISBN 978-0-399-15299-3, set in 1949
  • A Quiet Flame. London: Quercus, 2008. ISBN 978-1-84724-356-0, set in 1950
  • If The Dead Rise Not. London: Quercus, 2009. ISBN 978-1-84724-942-5, set in 1934 and 1954
  • Field Grey. London: Quercus, 2010. ISBN 978-1-84916-412-2, set in 1954 with flashbacks over 20 years
  • Prague Fatale. London: Quercus, 2011 ISBN 978-1-84916-415-3, set in 1941
  • A Man Without Breath. London: Quercus, 2013. ISBN 978-1-78087-624-5, set in 1943
  • The Lady From Zagreb. London: Quercus, 2015. ISBN 978-1-78206-582-1, set in 1942-3, with framing scenes in 1956.
  • The Other Side of Silence. London: Quercus, 2016. ISBN 978-1-78429-514-1, set in 1956
  • Prussian Blue. London: Quercus, 2017. ISBN 978-1-78429-648-3, set in 1939, with framing scenes in 1956
  • Greeks Bearing Gifts. London: Quercus, 2018. ISBN 978-1-78429-652-0
  • Metropolis. London: Quercus, 2019.

Scott Manson novels

• January Window. London: Head of Zeus, October 23, 2014. ISBN 1784082538 ISBN 978-1784082536 ASIN: B00KX96D3G
• Hand of God. London: Head of Zeus, June 4, 2015. ASIN: B00PULYUSW
• False Nine. London: Head of Zeus, November 5, 2015. ASIN: B00UVK10AS

Stand alone novels

• A Philosophical Investigation. London: Chatto & Windus, 1992. ISBN 0-7011-4553-6
• Dead Meat. London: Chatto & Windus, 1993. ISBN 0-7011-4703-2
• Gridiron (vt US The Grid). London: Chatto & Windus, 1995. ISBN 0-7011-6248-1
• Esau. London: Chatto & Windus, 1996. ISBN 0-7011-6281-3
• A Five Year Plan. London: Hutchinson, 1997. ISBN 0-09-180165-6
• The Second Angel. London: Orion, 1998. ISBN 0-7528-1443-5
• The Shot. London: Orion, 1999. ISBN 0-7528-1444-3
• Dark Matter: The Private Life of Sir Isaac Newton. New York: Crown, 2002. ISBN 0-609-60981-5
• Hitler's Peace. New York: Marian Wood, 2005. ISBN 0-399-15269-5
• Prayer. London: Quercus, 2013. ISBN 978-1782-06573-9
• The Winter Horses. New York: Knopf, 2014. ISBN 978-0-385-75543-6
• Research. London: Quercus, 2014. ISBN 978-1782-06577-7

Non fiction

• The Penguin Book of Lies. 1991;1996
• The Penguin Book of Fights, Feuds and Heartfelt Hatreds: An Anthology of Antipathy. 1992;1993

Children's fiction (as P. B. Kerr)

Children of the Lamp

• The Akhenaten Adventure. London: Scholastic Press, 2004. ISBN 0-439-96365-6
• The Blue Djinn of Babylon. London: Scholastic Press, 2005. ISBN 0-439-95950-0
• The Cobra King of Kathmandu. London: Scholastic Press, 2006. ISBN 0-439-95958-6
• The Day of the Djinn Warriors. London: Scholastic Press, 2007. ISBN 978-1-4071-0365-5
• The Eye of the Forest. London: Scholastic Press, 2009. ISBN 978-0-439-93215-8
• The Five Fakirs of Faizabad. London: Scholastic Press, 2010.
• The Grave Robbers of Genghis Khan. London: Scholastic Press, 2011.

Stand alone fiction

• One Small Step. London: Simon & Schuster, 2008 (paper). ISBN 978-1-84738-300-6
• The Most Frightening Story Ever Told. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2016. ISBN 978-0-553-52209-9
• Frederick the Great Detektive. No Rush Limited, 2017. ISBN 978-3-499-21791-3

External links

• Official P. B. Kerr website
• Bernie Gunther fansite
• Interview in Shotsmag Ezine 2011
• Interview with Philip Kerr about Kerr's relationship with Berlin.