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.

The dialogue went on to say the Home Office was hampered from taking action by vested interests, and mentioned Brock's Fireworks, a UK company, by name.

A film version of Funeral in Berlin was made in 1966, starring Michael Caine and directed by Guy Hamilton.

In 1973, the TV series Jason King (starring Peter Wyngarde), used the plot from Funeral in Berlin to smuggle an individual out of East Germany.

(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.