"Exquisite modern take on a classic mystery" - review of THE GOOD NAZI

THE GOOD NAZI by Samir Machado de Machado, translated by Rahul Bery (Pushkin Vertigo, 2026)

Reviewed by Craig Sisterson

1933. A body has been found on a luxury airship en route from Berlin to Rio de Janeiro. Police Detective Bruno Brückner, travelling on board, is immediately asked to investigate - and soon discovers that the murdered man was not the proud Nazi he claimed to be. What's more, he was carrying a stash of banned 'degenerate' material. 

As Brückner interviews his fellow passengers - a wealthy baroness, an antisemitic doctor, a debonair Englishman - he realizes that each of them has something to hide. Uncovering the truth will reveal a story of secret identities, forbidden love and revenge, where nothing is as it appears.

For those fancying something fresh and atypical, while a little lighter, perhaps try this fun mystery from Brazilian writer, translator and graphic designer Samir Machado de Machado, which won him the Jabuti Prize for Best Entertainment Novel (among Brazil’s most important book awards), for a second time.

Thanks to translator Rahul Bery and the fine folks at Pushkin Vertigo,  The Good Nazi is now available for English-speaking readers, who’ll discover an enjoyable tale with echoes of Agatha Christie or Dame Ngaio Marsh, while still its own unique thing.

Rather than Poirot, Marple, or Inspector Alleyn, our sleuth here is German police detective Bruno Brückner, who’s travelling on a trans-Atlantic zeppelin flight to Rio de Janeiro in 1933. Far faster, and pricier, than a seagoing voyage, it sees Brückner rubbing shoulders with an unusual grouping. Alongside some Brazilian passengers and the forty-member crew who coax the giant airship across the ocean from continent to continent, Brückner is joined by wealthy German Baroness Fridegunde van Hattem, who chases summer back and forth; Dr Karl Kass Voegler, who’s set to speak at a eugenics conference on the dangers of racial mixing; and debonair Englishman William Hay. 

They’re joined in Recife by another German, Otto Klein, for the final legs of the journey. But Klein doesn’t make it to Rio alive, dying overnight, after a dinner where the European quintet discuss classic art, how rising Nazism would fix what ailed Germany, and racial purity. Brückner is asked to investigate, and as he interviews the crew and passengers he uncovers a stash of banned ‘degenerate’ material, and a startling tale of fake identities, queer love, and revenge, where little is what it seems.

de Machado crafts an exquisite modern take on a classic mystery, with a unique historical setting that soaks readers in at-times disturbing pre-war viewpoints, while speckling his tale with several delightful surprises, right up until he absolutely sticks the landing of this aeronautical whodunnit.

Craig Sisterson is a lawyer turned writer, editor, podcast host, awards judge, and event chair. He's the founder of the Ngaio Marsh Awards, co-founder of Rotorua Noir, author of Macavity and HRF Keating Award-shortlisted non-fiction work SOUTHERN CROSS CRIME, editor of the DARK DEEDS DOWN UNDER anthology series, and writes about books for magazines and newspapers in several countries.