Death and the Maiden

Starred review from August 6, 2012
A heated political rivalry between Emperor Franz Josef and Vienna’s anti-Semitic mayor, Karl Lueger, serves as the intriguing backdrop for Tallis’s superb sixth historical featuring Dr. Max Liebermann (after 2011’s Vienna Twilight). Celebrated soprano Ida Rosenkrantz has been found dead in her rooms, possibly of a laudanum overdose, her body oddly posed in the center of a rug. An autopsy reveals that the opera singer was in fact suffocated, with enough force to fracture a rib. The sensitive investigation falls to Det. Insp. Oskar Rheinhardt, who enlists Freud protégée Liebermann for assistance. Since Lueger, who’s more popular in some circles than the emperor himself, is up for re-election, the pressure is on Rheinhardt and Liebermann to solve the murder quickly. While navigating treacherous political shoals, the psychoanalyst finds time to determine who’s been sending threatening letters to composer Gustav Mahler, then the director of the Court Opera. Tallis does his usual fine job bringing turn-of-the-20th-century Vienna to life. Agent: Clare Alexander, Aitken Alexander Associates.

October 1, 2012
When DI Oskar Rheinhardt investigates the suspicious death of an opera diva in early-20th-century Vienna, he finds a nest of vipers and a closet full of skeletons. Tensions simmer at an elegant gathering that includes the Emperor Franz Josef, Prince Rudolph Liechtenstein, Mayor Lueger and members of the Court Opera, led by Gustav Mahler. The soprano Arianne Amsel attracts many admirers, and the mayor's apparent health is a disappointment to the emperor and his retinue. Not long after, a famed soprano, not Amsel, is found dead under suspicious circumstances. The victim, Ida Rosenkrantz, who recently supplanted a bitter Amsel as the opera's foremost soprano, ingested a deadly quantity of laudanum, leading to a possible verdict of suicide. But she also has a cracked rib and, outside of some recent idiosyncratic behavior, no apparent reason to kill herself. Rheinhardt consults his friend, the progressive Viennese psychoanalyst and Freud-protege Max Liebermann, and even takes him along when he questions witnesses. When not working the case, the duo enjoys making music together. Mahler confirms the jealousy of other singers at Rosenkrantz's success, which becomes a motif of the investigation, confirmed by her dresser, Felix, and by Amsel herself. A gardener links the victim to the mayor, and the reader is privy to connections with the prince and the emperor as well. But the biggest early development is the discovery that Rosenkrantz may have secretly had an abortion. Liebermann and Rheinhardt's sixth collaboration (Vienna Twilight, 2011, etc.) again paints an intricately detailed portrait of the city in its time as well as a satisfyingly layered murder puzzle.

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September 1, 2012

It's 1903 in Vienna. The Austro-Hungarian empire is showing cracks, anti-Semitism is rising, the powerful mayor is campaigning, and DI Oskar Rheinhardt has a suspicious death on his hands. Ida Rosenkrantz, a beautiful rising star of the Court Opera, appears to have committed suicide, but Rheinhardt, with the assistance of his psychiatrist friend Max Liebermann, finds murder, political intrigue, and official cover-up. A second apparent suicide occurs, plus Liebermann suspects foul play in the 40-year-old death of a young composer. VERDICT The sixth entry in the Liebermann series (after Vienna Twilight) is a solid entry in what has become an impressive portrayal of a culture and period in which new ideas clash with tradition and the very world order seems shaky. Freud and Gustav Mahler appear, but the strong plot and well-drawn characters of Max and Oskar, combined with erudite, graceful writing, give these tales much more than just historical appeal. In the end, Liebermann faces major life changes while readers await the next installment in this fine series.--Roland C. Person, formerly with Southern Illinois Univ. Lib., Carbondale

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2012
Late-nineteenth-century Vienna is the vivid backdrop for Tallis' sixth novel to feature psychoanalyst Max Liebermann and Detective Oskar Rheinhardt. This time around, the doctor and the sleuth join forces to investigate the mysterious death of opera diva Ida Rosenkrantz. While her female colleagues may have envied Rosenkrantz's sensuous beauty and serene voice, did any of them have the nerve or wherewithal to end her life? Liebermann and Rheinhardt suspect the cause of death may have been a romantic liaison gone bad. (Rosenkrantz endured a dangerous abortion shortly before her demise.) The diva's numerous lovers included a high-profile politician, who may have silenced the singer to save his reputation, and her psychiatrist, whose treatments apparently crossed the boundaries of professionalism. 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.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)