The Bernsteinzimmer Mystery

Book excerpt: The 'Amber Room" treasure hunt is different from most searches for riches; it actually begins at the end of a war as a quest for blood and bone-men, desperate criminal men, trying to avoid prosecution for war crimes. The Allies are trying to capture these men, who now seek refuge in the West, by slipping by their captors disguised as ordinary citizens. Wolves pretending to be sheep; rats masquerading mice.hence the tag line for their route, a Rat Line. Our heroes are counterintelligence GI's, who have a hard time convincing their superiors that such a Rat Line really exists. They even risk court martial to prove their point. The war ends and the discouraged Allies turn their attention to more materially rewarding activity: finding this immense fortune stolen by the Nazis and hidden in the Soviet Zone of occupation. First they have to crack the information out of the Nazi who stole it, now a prisoner in Colditz Castle, find it, then ferret it out of a Europe swarming with refugees, communists, starving patriots, and desperate ideologues. Along the way they become woodsmen, gypsies, and members of a circus. But, will their disguises pay off?