Kelli Stanley: May 2010 Archives

Rebecca Cantrell's haunting debut novel, A TRACE OF SMOKE, won the Bruce Alexander Award for best historical mystery of 2009. A NIGHT OF LONG KNIVES, the enthralling, thrilling sequel featuring protagonist Hannah Vogel, takes place three years after A TRACE OF SMOKE, in 1934, when the Nazis have fully come to power.

Rebecca discusses her approach to history, mystery and what else may be in store for her investigative journalist, Hannah Vogel:

A NIGHT OF LONG KNIVES takes place a few years after your award-winning debut novel (and first of the Hannah Vogel series), A TRACE OF SMOKE, and, like all the Hannah Vogel series, deals with the tragic and very real history of Nazi Germany. Tell us a little about this background - what was the "Night of Long Knives"?

The Night of the Long Knives was a Nazi purge that took place in 1934. When the Nazis came to power in 1933, they immediately destroyed all other political parties,  removed all state governments, wiped out labor unions, drove Jews out of public and professional life, stifled the courts, and put political, economic, cultural, and social life under their control. But Hitler still did not have the full backing of the Army. The German army, because of the Treaty of Versailles, was limited to one hundred thousand men. The Storm Troopers, under Hitler's close friend Ernst Röhm, had four million. When Röhm suggested moving the army under his control, the generals were worried. They made a deal with Hitler: if he would kill his best friend and the top ranks of the Storm Troopers, they would back him. At the same time, Himmler created a fake dossier accusing Röhm of plotting to take over the government. In response, Hitler started the purge known as "The Night of the Long Knives" killing Ernst Röhm, the upper echelon of the Storm Troopers, and a long list of other personal and political enemies. The true body count has never been determined, but at the Nuremberg trials after the war estimates ranged up to one thousand.