Frank Tallis, acclaimed author of the Edgar Award–nominated Vienna Secrets, returns with a new and masterfully woven tale full of deceit, love, and rich mystery. Set in fin de siècle Vienna, it’s perfect for fans of Boris Akunin, Alan Furst, and David Liss.
Ida Rosenkranz is top diva at the Vienna Opera, but she’s gone silent for good after an apparent laudanum overdose. Learning of her professional rivalries and her scandalous affairs with older men, Detective Inspector Oskar Rheinhardt and Dr. Max Liebermann suspect foul play instead. Their investigation leads them into dark and dangerous conflicts with Gustav Mahler, the opera’s imperious director, who is himself the target of a poison pen campaign, and Karl Lueger, Vienna’s powerful and anti-Semitic mayor. As the peril escalates, Rheinhardt grows further into his role as family man, while Liebermann finds himself at odds with his inamorata, Amelia, who’s loosening both her corset and her tongue in the new feminist movement.
PRAISE FOR FRANK TALLIS’S VIENNA THRILLERS
“[A] captivating historical series.”—The New York Times Book Review
“[A] riveting read . . . with well researched and wonderfully imagined period detail.”—The Guardian (U.K.), on Vienna Twilight
“Chock-full of tantalizing elements.”—The Austin Chronicle, on Vienna Secrets
“Engrossing . . . immensely satisfying.”—The Boston Globe, on Fatal Lies"Tallis does his usual fine job bringing turn-of-the-20th-century Vienna to life."
--Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
"As in his previous series entries, Edgar-nominated writer and practicing clinical psychologist Tallis masterfully evokes period and place. Among the many pleasures here is the presence of real-life characters from the era, including moody composer and conductor Gustav Mahler and controversial psychiatrist Sigmund Freud."
--Booklist
