Mortal Mischief [Import] [Paperback]

Frank Tallis (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Arrow; New Ed edition (February 2, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0099471280
• ISBN-13: 978-0099471288
• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 1.1 x 7.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,655,942 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Dr. Frank Tallis is a consultant clinical psychologist at the Charter Nightingale Hospital in London. He has also written How to Stop Worrying (1990) and is a trustee of Obsessive Action, a charity which helps sufferers of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and their families.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Buyer beware . . ., December 10, 2007

By 

Jane Q. Doe (Charlottesville, Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mortal Mischief (Lieberman Papers) (Paperback)

This is a well-written and interesting mystery, but be aware that "Mortal Mischief" and "A Death in Vienna" are the same book! One is the British title, the other the title used in the States. Don't buy both.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Almost a non-book, January 10, 2009

By 

WB, Zeno - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Mortal Mischief (Paperback)

I really don't know where to begin. How could the other reviewers rate it so highly? But better keep things simple:

(1) The characters are two-dimensional. Many words are written about, but nothing is really said of, their being, their personality. Thus, why are the Police Inspector and the analyst friends? Because they play music together? Not a single significant thought is exchanged between them in this whole series of disconnected vignettes that passes for a book.

(2) The plot, and its dénouement, are absurd. The murder is presented as a fascinating locked-room mystery, but the solution to this particular puzzle is demeaningly cheap.

(3) Freud appears in three (?) half-pages only to smoke and utter total trivialities, so giving "local colour" to the story.

(4) And what's the point of the meanigless, idiotic twaddle exchanged between Amelia and the Professor? "Fluxions" in Continental Europe, in 1900, in the language of Leibniz, indeed! Why include chapters that make anybody with a minimum of science college training laugh at you?

And that's it. (5) Oh yes, there are some details about food, the psychiatric practices and theories of this fascinating period, and a glimpse of its courting customs, and that must have taken some (not much) research to write about. That's why I'm giving the book two stars instead of one.

But if you're genuinely interested in those times, then read Stefan Zweig's autobiography, or Sándor Márai "The Final Meeting" (I don't know if this is the exact title in English), or "Wittgenstein's Vienna" by Janik and Toulmin. These are wonderful books, and the time it takes to absorb them is well invested.

In a nutshell, avoid, even if there are enough loose ends to flesh out the following volumes, which I don't even dream of buying.

5.0 out of 5 stars Also known as A Death in Vienna, October 12, 2011

By 

Ulla - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Mortal Mischief (Lieberman Papers) (Paperback)

I enjoy Frank Tallis' books. I was disappointed that the same story was published under different titles. One should have been told.