Editing Funeral in Berlin

{{Short description|Book by Len Deighton}}
{{For|the film adaptation|Funeral in Berlin (film)}}
{{One source|date=May 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{infobox book
| name          = Funeral in Berlin
| title_orig    =
| translator    =
| image         = FuneralInBerlin.JPG
| caption       = First edition cover
| author        = [[Len Deighton]]
| illustrator   =
| cover_artist  =
| country       = United Kingdom
| language      = English
| series        =
| genre         = [[Spy novel]]
| publisher     = [[Jonathan Cape]]
| release_date  = 1964
| english_release_date =
| media_type    = Print ([[Hardcover|Hardback]] & [[Paperback]])
| pages         =
| preceded_by   = [[Horse Under Water]]
| followed_by   = [[Billion-Dollar Brain]]
}}
'''''Funeral in Berlin''''' is a 1964 [[spy novel]] by [[Len Deighton]] set between Saturday 5 October and Sunday 10 November 1963. It was the third of Deighton's novels about an unnamed British agent. It was preceded by ''[[The IPCRESS File]]'' (1962) and ''[[Horse Under Water]]'' (1963), and followed by ''[[Billion-Dollar Brain]]'' (1966).

==Plot==
The [[Harry Palmer#Novels|protagonist]], who is unnamed, travels to Berlin to arrange the defection of a Soviet scientist named Semitsa, this being brokered by Johnny Vulkan of the Berlin intelligence community.<ref name=baker>[https://books.google.com/books?id=K3iYZjnLfXcC&dq=Funeral+in+Berlin&pg=PA44 Baker, Brian (2006) ''Masculinity in Fiction and Film: Representing Men in Popular Genres, 1945–2000'', p. 42. Continuum International Publishing Group] at [[Google Books]]. Retrieved 29 April 2013.</ref> Despite the protagonist's scepticism, the deal seems to have the support of Russian security-chief Colonel Stok and Hallam at the [[Home Office]]. The fake documentation for Semitsa needs to be precisely specified. An Israeli intelligence agent named Samantha Steel is involved in the case but it soon becomes apparent that behind the façade of an elaborate mock funeral lies a game of deadly manoeuvres and ruthless tactics.

==Legal dispute==
{{Unreferenced section|date=January 2023}}
The UK publication of ''Funeral in Berlin'' brought on a lawsuit: At the novel's climax, the protagonist and Hallam meet at a fireworks party where they discuss the hazards of fireworks. The dialogue went on to say the Home Office was hampered from taking action by vested interests, and mentioned [[Brocks Fireworks|Brock's Fireworks]], a UK company, by name. Brock's objected to this, and sued for [[libel]].{{dub|date=January 2023}} The complaint was upheld, and the 1972 Penguin edition had the dialogue deleted. This ruling did not affect books published elsewhere, which continued to contain the offending material.

==Adaptation==
A film version of ''[[Funeral in Berlin (film)|Funeral in Berlin]]'' was made in 1966, starring [[Michael Caine]] and directed by [[Guy Hamilton]]. In 1973, the TV series ''[[Jason King (TV series)|Jason King]]'' (starring [[Peter Wyngarde]]), used the plot from ''Funeral in Berlin'' to smuggle an individual out of East Germany. The book is shown at the end of the episode. (Ostensibly, they had been using a plot from a book written by eponymous hero Jason King but it turns out at the end that it was a double bluff. King ostentatiously throws the Deighton book into the fireplace.)

==Chess references==
Every chapter title is a quotation from the rules of chess.<ref name=baker/>

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Len Deighton}}

[[Category:1964 British novels]]
[[Category:"Unnamed hero" novels]]
[[Category:British novels adapted into films]]
[[Category:Novels set in Berlin]]
[[Category:Jonathan Cape books]]