“Cavalcade” is the third and last volume in Walter Satterthwait’s trilogy about Pinkerton agents Phil Beaumont and Jane Turner in 1920s Europe, and once again they meet with genuine historical figures in the course of their investigation. Unfortunately, in this case they have arrived in Germany, where they are looking into a mysterious incident in which an unknown person apparently fired a gun at Hitler. The cast of characters that they meet, both real and fictional, are by and large horrible anti-semites, or else they’re once middle class people (especially women) who are now prostitutes because of the hyper-inflation in Germany since the end of WWI. And while our two are investigating, other unsavory characters are keeping an eye on them, to make sure they don’t get too close to the truth…. Honestly, I enjoyed this book less than the other two in the series, simply because of the ubiquitous presence of Nazis throughout. This is set in the Spring of 1923, so after Hitler started his National Socialist party but before he came into power; the people around him at this stage are largely the people who figured highly in later years, and it all just leaves a rather bitter taste in my mouth. Don’t get me wrong - the story is well-told and the two leads remain likeable, but the subject matter is a very large turn-off. A pity. ( )