Philip Ballantyne Kerr (22 February 1956 – 23 March 2018) was a British author,[1][2][3] best known for his Bernie Gunther series of historical detective thrillers.

Kerr was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, where his father was an engineer and his mother worked as a secretary.

He studied at the University of Birmingham from 1974 to 1980, gaining a master's degree in law and philosophy.

In a 2012 interview, Kerr noted that he began his literary career at the age of twelve by writing pornographic stories and lending them to classmates for a fee.

He was married to fellow novelist Jane Thynne; they lived in Wimbledon, London,[6] and had three children.