The Schirmer Inheritance

Written in 1953, this novel features an ambitious young attorney whose first assignment, after being hired at a prestigious white shoe Philadelphia law firm, is to review the estate file of a wealthy female decedent--the Johnson-Schneider file--to see whether anyone has credibly claimed heirship, or whether the fortune should be allowed to escheat to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, the case made the papers, and several hundred spurious "heirs" came forward to try to claim the fortune. It will take weeks, possibly months, to plow through all the files of people who claimed to be this woman's relative and heir, and the overwhelming likelihood is that she died without a lawful heir. Our young lawyer is appalled that his first assignment is such pointless drudgery, until, after three weeks of plowing through the spurious claims, he finds the private file of another lawyer who previously worked on the case, just before the outbreak of WW2. The papers show that he had a lead on a legitimate heir, but the last part of his memo to the file was written in some sort of a code.From there, the novel becomes a chase through Europe, looking for the heir, a German soldier who may or may not have survived the war. Ambler was an outstanding writer. This thing reads like a true story; there is nothing incredible or hard to swallow in the whole tale. Understand that there isn't the level of sex and violence that you see in modern "thrillers" and other fiction. But that just made it more readable and more believable.

A great read!!

I am a fan of all Amblers works. The Schirmer Inheritance I found particularly well written with a very good plot. A twisting story with surprises that continue to the end. This book is one of my favorites from Ambler.Ambler avoids the sensationalism that is prevalent in todays spy novels. His heroes are commonplace citizens who do not have super powers and the fate of the world is not at stake. You are transported into the European world with an explanation of how it was during the 30's and 40's with the Nazi's rampaging the land Their inhuman brutality keeps you hoping for a good outcome for the "good" characters.He handles the troubled and mysterious Miss Kolin especially well.

I've read almost all of Ambler's novels, and this is my least favorite. The premise (post-WWII, an American lawyer must track down the rightful owner of a German-American inheritance, which requires sorting through a complicated cast of potential heirs and wartime secrets) is intriguing, but once the action moves to the finale in Greece, Ambler seems to have run out of ideas. The resolution comes about through the seemingly out-of-character and unexplained actions of the protagonist's female translator; Ambler wrote far better women characters than this (in, for example, State of Siege), but his treatment of this one is really just sexist. It almost seems like he is projecting some sort of personal bad experience with a woman into the novel. Anyway, the result is an unsatisfying ending that isn't worthy of the buildup and backstory he began with.

Pure Ambler although obviously dated; the action takes place in the early fifties, in a Greece still affected by the sequels of the Second World War. The story is made more interesting by the parallels of a napoleonic and a Wehrmacht soldier. This story is not up to the level of The Levanter or the Intercom Conspiracy, which are probably Amblers best. Not a book for feminists.

The "prologue," and last 50 pages, are among the best-written, most skilled and entertaining--and unpredictable. The "middle" sometimes slows, but all is done for good purpose and the quality never lapses. Yes, lead character George Carey is dull, especially for a WWII bomber pilot, but after all, he's now a Philadelphia corporate lawyer. One can chuckle at the dullness, though, and enjoy the roller-coaster ride as Carey travels a perilous, vividly-drawn post-WWII Europe, in the company of enigmatic, suspect and all-too-human characters of remarkable diversity. By the end, Carey also experiences a transformation. So too, fellow reader, will you. Highly recommended.

Ambler starts this tale at the beginning of the 19th century, in order to set the stage for a twentieth-century problem: finding an heir who may or may not exist. From this, as always, he has constructed an engrossing tale that moves along briskly to its satisfying (and to me unexpected) end.

Author is such a good writer that plot hardly matters. But, the story is also intriguing. Takes place right after WW2, American lawyer sent to Germany to investigate an inheritance. Great characters, wonderfully written. Not many writers like this now who have this command of the language and no need of writing scenes for pure shock value.

This is supposed to be unabridged.I haven't done a textual analysis, word by word, so I can't say whether the first 11 chapters are unabridged.What I can say, without a shadow of doubt; the last chapter, is just not there. At all. I have all Ambler's books in hard copy & most in Kindle format. It has been the work of a moment to check the Kindle edition, on this device.Given that Ambler is the sparest of writers, with hardly an extraneous word, losing an entire chapter, the denouement of this novel, is terrible. It completely alters the whole balance of the book.Whether it's simply a technical error, in the process of creating the MP3 disc, or an editorial decision, it's poor treatment of a brilliant author. Bad marks to Audible Studios and Brilliance Audio.

This 1953 book follows Judgment on Deltchev in Ambler's post-war return to writing novels. It shares many features with the characteristics of his work - a complex problem which challenges a central narrator and a setting in a specific time scale and geographical location. Here it is the later stages of the second World War and follows units of the German Army as defeat becomes inevitable and they are scattered over eastern Europe.The central issue - an inheritance dating back to the early 19th century - casts long shadows. Tasked with discovering if the heir of the legacy survives is an American lawyer, George Carey, who follows the movement of German soldiers through the late days of the fighting and chaotic post-war Greece as they, stateless and paperless, struggle to survive. As ever in Ambler's work, the writing is gripping and engrossing, though the final denouement is perhaps less satisfying than some of his other novels. A number of reviews comment negatively upon the treatment of the only significant woman character. It certainly shocks but I personally do not find it as problematic as others. Ambler's world is dark but has its own consistent standards. Unexpected though the outcome is there is no easy tying-up events to a conventional scenario. A rewarding thriller.

This is the first book by this author that I've read and I was blown away by it. It's just not the story but the amount of knowledge and history that the author includes which was in itself very interesting. I know this book is a couple of decades old and after reading it, you can understand where John LeCarre and Jeffrey Archer etc. learnt how to create a pacy thriller. (I'm Irish and live in Ireland but am a little puzzled as to why Amazon posted my review as though I live in the UK......strange...)...

I first read Eric Ambler's books in the sixties and decided recently to re- read them. This book features an American lawyer who has been a bomber pilot in WW 2. He joins a prestigious law firm and is disappointed to be given what he regards as a mundane job going through all the tons of paperwork concerning claims to fortune. He eventually decides to go to Germany to try to find more information about a possible heir.whose ancestor was a sergeant is Napoleon's army. He and his interpreter follow various leads to narrow down the field.What Ambler does so well is give a sense of the place, his description of the retreat from the battle is excellent. He is also a superb storyteller. This story goes through several countries and ends up in post war Greece. I didn't know a lot about this period of history but it has been well researched , yet told in an easy readable way. The only thing that disappointed me was the ending.

As you would expect from Eric Ambler, this is extremely well written and the plot moves along at a fast pace. Although written over sixty years ago, neither the storyline nor the manner of telling is dated. The characters are well developed, and the historical and geographical setting is well researched. One oddity is the sudden and largely unmotivated transformation at the end of the main female character, Miss Kolin, from hatred to love. But this is a byproduct of the situation, and is treated as being only tangential to the central story. A classic read, clearly influencing the later James Bond novels.