Philip Kerr was born in Edinburgh and read Law at university. He stayed on to read Law and Philosophy as a postgraduate, most of this German, which was when he first became interested in German twentieth century history. He worked first as a copywriter at a number of advertising agencies, including Saatchi & Saatchi, but spent most of his time researching an idea he'd had for a novel about a Berlin-based policeman. And following several trips to Germany - and a great deal of walking around mean streets of Berlin - his first novel, March Violets , was published in 1989 and introduced the world to