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The Schirmer Inheritance

The Schirmer Inheritance

List Price: $12.00
Your Price: $9.00
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: want to write an adventure story? Read Schirmer first.
Review: Ambler had developed the modern spy novel in the 1930s, then took time off from novel writing for army service in WWII. During the war, several of his early novels were made into Hollywood films he detested. When he resumed his output of novels in the early 50s, it would seem he had determined to exercise a degree of control over the eventual movies his stories might become by writing with a simple, vivid, forcefulness that no movie adapter could misinterpret or screw up. The prologue to Schirmer Inheritance is breathtaking in the speed and skill in which you are swept up into the story of the wounded Prussian cavalry sergeant, Franz Schirmer, who deserts during a retreat from a battle against Napolean. Fast forward 140 years to a Philadelphia law firm which is attempting to find heirs to the considerable estate of an elderly, childless woman, who turns out to be a descendant of the Prussian sergeant. A young associate at the firm is sent off to Germany to look for relatives and discovers that the only possible relative was last seen alive in 1945 in a Wehrmacht truck convey which was attacked on a Greek mountain road by partisans. No survivors were ever found including the NCO in charge of the convoy, Sgt. Franz Schirmer. The lawyer travels to Greece and Yugoslavia to try to get more definite proof of death which will satisfy the Pennsylvania Probate Court. The plot twists are ingenious without seeming contrived. The writing, as I said, is vivid. Schirmer Inheritance should be read in every college course on the modern English novel as a model of excitement with economy.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Searching for a Lost Heir
Review: Amelia Schneider Johnson, an unmarried woman, died in 1938 Pennsylvania without a will. Seemingly poor, her estate had over $3,000,000 (1938 dollars!). The law said any blood-relation could be entitled to a share; else it would revert to the state. A law firm was appointed administrator of the estate; they collected fees in their search for the rightful heirs. Thousands filed claims, and there had to be evaluated. The only relatives found would be in Germany, the origin of her parents. A lawyer was sent there in 1939, but the War prevented a settlement. The Nazis forged documents for one claimant in Dresden. Now in 1949 a new young lawyer is assigned to re-investigate the tons of documents and provide a final solution. Young George Carey interviews the now retired lawyer who previously investigated the claims. Carey now travels to Western Germany, hires an interpreter, and looks for a Schneider or a Schirmer (original name). If a Swiss citizen, then the inheritance would not be forfeit as Alien Property.

The official records said Franz Schneider was missing in action and presumed dead in 1944 Greece. But he could have survived and joined the guerrillas. So Carey travels to Greece to continue his search; that comes to a literal dead end. We are told of the historical events of that time. Something happens that draws Carey to further meetings. But what if the heir doesn't want to be found? This book explains what a court-appointed administrator does; so be sure to have a will. This is another story where an individual gets snagged in the gears of government; they survive by their self-reliance. To understand the ending you must know about the German laws of that era regarding nationality.


Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Realistic and best Ambler
Review: As one with guerrilla warfare experience,this story rings a bell. The descriptions of professionals and others in the disintegrating Greek Communist Vafiades-led ELAS Guerrillas of the late 1940s is striking. The plot twists are excellent, a are the brilliant thumbnail descrriptions of chaaracters, an Ambler forte. As a longtime Ambler devote, I feel this is his best mystery novel. Ringokid6

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Not Ambler's Best
Review: I am a huge fan of Eric Ambler. I have read all of the recent Ambler re-issues put out by Vintage Crime/Black Lizard and I think this is his weakest book. I would recommend it to an Ambler fan but it is not the best book to start with.

Although the story is good, it has none of the over the top flair of A Coffin for Dimitrios or Journey into Fear nor any of the weirdness of Judgement on Deltchev. In style, this book reminds me more of Epitaph for a Spy. It is a good procedural type story but the ultimate pay off just was not there for me.

Eric Ambler is a master of espionage genre. Even his weaker efforts are a lot better than most of the books coming out today.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Not Ambler's Best
Review: I am a huge fan of Eric Ambler. I have read all of the recent Ambler re-issues put out by Vintage Crime/Black Lizard and I think this is his weakest book. I would recommend it to an Ambler fan but it is not the best book to start with.

Although the story is good, it has none of the over the top flair of A Coffin for Dimitrios or Journey into Fear nor any of the weirdness of Judgement on Deltchev. In style, this book reminds me more of Epitaph for a Spy. It is a good procedural type story but the ultimate pay off just was not there for me.

Eric Ambler is a master of espionage genre. Even his weaker efforts are a lot better than most of the books coming out today.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Fascinating reading!
Review: I can't believe that it's taken me so long to discover Ambler. I first read Coffin for Demitrios on a whim (and a little help from Amazon), and The Schirmer Inheritance is the third Ambler book I've read. In relatively short novels, Ambler combines intrigue, vivid detail, political intrigue and complex character development. The Schirmer Inheritance stands out for its historical context, the ongoing and developing tension between the two main protagonists, and Ambler's ability to keep you completely engaged throughout the novel. Think of this book as a series of mouse-traps laid out in a dark room. As you carefully walk across the room, you "feel" the traps, know that one or more will spring, yet you are drawn to the other side of the room by the power of the story-telling. Great fun!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Ambler at his best.
Review: The Schirmer Inheritance is Eric Ambler at his best. The introduction recounts the story of a German sergeant who deserts during the Franco-Prussian War and changes his name to conceal this desertion. Ambler then takes us to modern times and the tortuous complications that this seemingly-trivial event has on the search for the heir to an unclaimed fortune. Along the way we encounter the many interesting vignettes and insights into human behavior that typify Ambler's stories. If such revelatory insights coupled with compelling twists and turns of plot are more important to you than explicit sex and violence, then you too may find Eric Ambler to be THE master of intrigue as well as one of the finest novelists of this century in any genre. You may also decide, like I have, that The Schirmer Inheritance may well be his masterpiece.


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