The Man Who Knew Charlie Chaplin begins in October 1929, when a wealthy and famous American financier Peter Hammersmith receives a copy of a book. The book is Mein Kampf. Astonished and disturbed, he rushes off to Washington to consult his friend President Hoover. Hoover immediately assigns Peter to travel to his native Berlin to investigate the political and economic climate and to write a full report with recommendations for the President of the United States.

The setting, the urgency of the issues, the array of historical characters, the unique mise en scene all combine to make this an unusual and important novel. And, in the hands of the accomplished novelist Eric Koch, The Man Who Knew Charlie Chaplin is destined to be widely discussed.