Requiem in Vienna

November 16, 2009
Set in 1899, Jones's fine second Viennese mystery (after 2009's The Empty Mirror
) opens with a falling fire curtain narrowly missing Gustav Mahler, the director of the Vienna Court Opera, but killing a soprano during a stage rehearsal. Lawyer and private inquirer Karl Werthen teams with criminologist Hanns Gross to look into this and subsequent “accidents” apparently aimed at Mahler. As the investigation descends into the “damned politics of music,” Mahler, a former Jew who must be careful to hide his contempt for fellow composer Richard Wagner, emerges as the nexus for an “ever-widening pool of suspects.” Complicating matters are big changes in Werthen's home life, in particular wife Berthe's pregnancy. Jones, the author of Hitler in Vienna, 1907–1913
and other nonfiction books about the city, smoothly blends a compelling period whodunit with bountiful cultural and social details.

Starred review from November 1, 2009
What dastard is trying to kill the great Gustav Mahler?

Singers call Vienna's new Court Opera Director"the drill sergeant," an unflattering title certainly influenced by a streak of anti-Semitism directed against the Jewish Mahler. In May 1899, a rehearsal of Wagner's Lohengrin takes a tragic turn when an asbestos fire curtain falls and kills soprano Margarethe Kaspar. In light of several recent accidents at the theater, it looks as if someone has it in for the new director. Beautiful, ambitious Alma Schindler, who will be known to readers familiar with classical-music history, hires lawyer and sometime sleuth Karl Werthen (The Empty Mirror, 2009) to investigate, which seems to confirm the local gossip delivered to Werthen by his friend, painter Gustav Klimt, that the lady has set her romantic sights on Mahler. In light of Alma's aggressive feminine charms, Werthen's soulmate and wife Berthe is even more conscientious than usual in assisting him in his investigation. Pioneering criminologist Dr. Hanns Gross, another real-life character, returns from self-imposed exile to help his old friend Werthen as well. There's no dearth of suspects, including perhaps Mahler himself (Margarethe was becoming an inconvenient mistress). So it's no surprise that Werthen and Gross uncover layers upon layers of machinations and betrayals in the microcosm of the opera house.

Confident prose and mastery of historical detail, woven into a convincing narrative, make this sophisticated entertainment of a very high caliber.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

Starred review from December 1, 2009
A young woman hires a lawyer to find out whos trying to kill the man she loves. At first the lawyer is skeptical, but soon he realizes that certain suspicious incidents have only one explanation: murder. But whos the would-be culprit, and can he be stopped before he finally succeeds? Sounds like a pretty ordinary thriller, except that its set in 1899 Vienna, and the villains target is Gustav Mahler, the noted Austrian composer and conductor. Lawyer and investigator Karl Werthen, the hero of 2009s The Empty Mirror, teams up with criminologist Hans Gross to find out whether there might be an evil plot afoot: with the recent deaths of Strauss and Brahms, it looks like someone might be systematically killing off Viennas musical geniuses. This is a rich, beautifully written historical mystery, with a unique setting and a compelling lead. The authors use of real peopleMahler, Gross, and painter Gustav Klimt among themgives the book the feel of actual history, and his careful re-creation of the Viennese setting transports us to the place and time. A first-class historical mystery that builds on the promise of its predecessor.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)