Author: Kris Rusch Year: 1998 Rank: Rating: Original Rating: Pop Rating: Genres/categories: Historical fiction, Mystery, Crime Culture: Germany
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In Hitler's Angel, author Kris Rusch gathers the usual suspects: there's Eva Braun and Rudolf Hess and of course the future fuhrer himself. But rather than put them at the center of her novel, Rusch relegates them to cameo appearances only and hands the starring role to the fictional Fritz Stecher, a cop investigating the death of Hitler's beloved niece, Geli Raubal. The relationship between uncle and niece has been the subject of speculation for decades--everything from incest to murder has been suggested, but the facts are these: Hitler and the 23-year-old Geli lived together in a house in Munich, and in 1931, she died, the apparent victim of a suicide. Historians may debate the circumstances; novelists have the freedom to imagine answers. Rusch's solution to the riddle of young Geli Raubal's death is at the heart of this dark novel, encompassing both Hitler's tangled personal relationships and his cutthroat political rivalries. Told from the perspective of a now-elderly Stecher, Rusch's tale not only speculates on what might have happened, but also hints at what might have been if Hitler's career had been derailed early on by scandal.
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